Initium Magica - The Complete Story
by TheStanfordExperiment
Summary: Elsa and Ignus have always had each other's backs, no matter what. But now, a series of supernatural events have set an ancient legend in motion. An evil pair seeks to exploit a miracle. Ignus and Elsa seek the true origins of their powers, but they may not realize the price such knowledge costs. TheStanfordExperiment presents the sequel to the hit story "Singed" - Initium Magica
1. Chapter 1

TheStanfordExperiment presents:

Ignus and the cast of Frozen in…

**INITIUM MAGICA**

Chapter One – Motion

A campfire burned solemnly in the darkness of the night. It was the only light in the forest aside that of the moons.

Two individuals sat around it. Both wore cloaks around them. One was wearing an ebony helmet, spiky and rusted from use, which covered his head.

The other wore no facial wear, save for a single earing in the shape of a spike. He had silver hair, which grew backwards, like it was constantly being blown by the wind. One of his eyes had no pupil, and was simply a white orb, staring at nothing. The other eye was dark green.

He had a silver goatee, spiked dangerously downwards, like it would cut anyone who dared touch it. He was twirling a twig in his hand.

"We'll get moving again soon." The man in the helmet said.

"What?" The man with the earing said, in a whiney voice, the twig stopping in his hand. "We've been walking for miles and miles…this is the first stop we've taken since we left Hagarthen. Come on, let me rest."

"You think I care about rest? I care about nothing but the destination."

The grey-haired man groaned like a child who had just been given a very good reason to go to bed. "We haven't even had any food. I'm starving."

"We'll find food on the way."

"You've said that before."

"And we got food."

"We had berries. Tiny berries."

"Are you done complaining? I never forced you, nor asked you to follow me."

The man with the earing looked at him and grinned with an air of malevolence. He started flipping the twig around again. "You didn't have to. You knew as much as I did that you needed me."

The man in the helmet said nothing.

"Why do you care about getting there so _quickly_ anyway? We still don't even know where it is! There's no point trying to rush." He gave the man in the helmet a twisted smile. "Might as well enjoy the journey."

The man in the helmet was once again, silent. Then…

"Fine. We'll rest for today. Then we keep moving. And no more whining. Understood, Fenrir?"

The grey-haired man, or Fenrir, sat back and relaxed, grinning devilishly. He snapped the twig in his hand.

"One-hundred percent."

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Elsa was reading a book. She was surprised at herself.

Not because she was reading, of course, but because of _what _she was reading. It was quite an interesting read, "Arendellian Myths", but she often strayed away from books of legends and folk tales, preferring those of fact and knowledge, or at the least, books that were meant to be seen as fiction.

This book had simply caught her eye. Well, not quite, Anna had recommended it to her. Elsa thought it'd be rude to not give it a shot. And she had to admit; it was certainly entertaining to read.

Speaking of Anna, the redhead herself bobbed into the throne room, her usual sunny smile on her face, her wedding ring sparkling on her finger.

"Hi, Elsa!"

Elsa looked up, smiling. "Hello."

"Oooh! You're reading the book I told you about! I told you it was cool!"

Elsa nodded, if a bit grudgingly. "I do admit, some of these tales are so…well, weird, that they're actually fun to read."

"Which one is your favorite?"

"Well…I don't really know…I only just read them."

Anna raised an eyebrow. "I thought you would have liked the one about the sun and the moon."

"The what? I don't think I've read that one yet…"

"You've got to, here, it's on page-"

"I think I'll be okay getting there myself." Elsa said, quickly whipping the book away from Anna's outstretched hands.

"Have you seen Ignus, by the way?" Anna said, changing the subject. "I wanted to ask him how that ice sculpture he was going to make me was coming."

"He's making you an ice sculpture?"

Anna nodded, happily. "I thought something nice on the vanity in me and Kristoff's room would brighten it up a bit more. Ignus volunteered."

Elsa shook her head. "Anna, if that room gets any brighter, it'll blind someone. And no, I haven't seen him around for a while. If he's not working on your sculpture, he might be practicing in the training room."

"Right. He really has been spending some time down there a lot, lately. Do you have any idea why?"

Elsa rolled her eyes, though she smiled a bit as well. "He's been trying to find new ways to use his powers."

It was true. Ignus had been experimenting with his powers recently. He didn't really clarify as to why, but Elsa guessed that since he hadn't had to worry about using them in combat much anymore, he was trying to put them to more practical uses.

He had been like a child who just discovered his toy boat was also a toy airplane.

Anna smiled at Elsa. "He's cute when he gets excited."

Elsa was jarred out of her thoughts. She looked at Anna. "Yes. Yes he is."

"Anyway, if I see him, I'll let you-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

Elsa had screamed, as did Anna, because a very loud bang had just gone off in the throne room, a small smoking crater at the center of the noise. Elsa heard someone coughing within the cloud.

Stumbling out of it came a soot-covered and raggedy Ignus, who looked like he had just had a fight with charcoal, his black hair even darker than usual, to the point where the red ends were black with soot.

Ignus coughed a few more times, his amber eyes looking around wildly. They fell onto Elsa and Anna.

He took a step forward. Anna and Elsa were, at this point, for lack of a better phrase, completely and utterly freaked out.

"Where am I?"

Elsa looked from Ignus to Anna and back. Anna shrugged helplessly.

"Um…Ignus? Y-you're in the throne room…?" She said it like she was waiting to see if that was the correct answer.

Ignus froze. Then, slowly but surely, a grin broke out on his face.

"YES! FINALLY!" He jumped about a foot into the air. He looked like he had just invented toast.

"Wh-what?" Anna spluttered.

"I was just in the basement! Just a few seconds ago! And then POW!" He said excitedly. "I was practicing all week and getting nowhere, and finally I concentrate hard enough and end up here!"

"I-Ignus, I don't understand…" Elsa said weakly. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"Here, I'll show you!"

"Wait, what?! No, don't-"

BANG

Ignus exploded into another flash of light and smoke.

Less than a second later, he appeared on the other side of the room, with another flash.

Ignus came once again stumbling out of the cloud. He looked completely disoriented, but was too excited to care.

"I give you instantaneous fire travel!" He flung his arms out in a "tah-dah".

Complete silence from the royal siblings.

Anna's face slowly went into a tentative smile. "Uh…great! That's…really great, Ignus! It's just…well…"

She gestured at the two ash-covered and smoking circles on the floor, where Ignus had appeared and disappeared.

"It's a bit, uh-"

"Destructive?" Elsa said, trying to be gentle.

Ignus looked at the ground. He saw what concerned them. His face fell into an embarrassed state.

"Oh…I see. Sorry, I didn't even think about where I was going, I should have tested it somewhere less important. My mind was just thinking about-"

He was looking at Elsa. He went redder and looked away, putting a hand on the back of his hand. "So…when you think about it, it's not completely my fault."

Elsa couldn't help but giggle at Ignus. They had been a couple for almost two months now, and he was still very humble about it.

"Sorry about that. I'll try not to occupy your mind too much in the future." Elsa said, teasingly.

Ignus rolled his eyes. "You're enjoying this."

Elsa walked over to him, giving him a hug. "I think it's awesome. Just…maybe you'd like to try and fine-tune in a less noticeable place?"

Ignus smirked. "Yeah. Alright."

"But before you…zap away again, or however you do it-"

"I call it 'bursting'."

"Why?"

Ignus shrugged. "Because I burst into the room?"

Elsa nodded, agreeing. "Makes sense. Anyway, are you all ready for the trip to Corona tomorrow? We've been requested there personally, you and I."

Ignus blinked. "I heard about it, and yeah I packed, but I thought they only invited you?"

"Then why did you pack?"

"Because I'd have stowed away anyway, but why do they want me there? How do they even know who I am?"

"Well...dating the Queen makes you kind of famous, Iggy." Anna said, apologetically.

Elsa gave Anna a look, and then bit her lip in thought. "I don't really know. If I had to guess, I'd say it's about our powers."

Ignus' face darkened a bit. "What makes you say that? Do they have a problem with us?"

Elsa noticed how his voice didn't sound defensive or challenging. He was concerned. She liked that about him. He always wanted to know why someone was attacking before hitting back.

"I don't think so…they addressed it in a way that seemed like they needed help, or clarification."

Ignus thought for a moment. Then he sighed. "Well, if that's what you believe, then I see no reason to object."

Elsa smiled. "Excellent. We leave tomorrow."

She turned to Anna. "You and Kristoff will be okay here for a few days?"

Anna gave he a mockingly-offended look. "Of course we will! You two enjoy the trip! I mean, enjoy Corona. I mean, enjoy both, you know, they say the joy's in the journey-"

"Thank you, Anna." Ignus interjected. Anna put her hands behind her back sheepishly.

Elsa looked at Ignus. "We'll leave tomorrow morning."

"Alright! I'll go back down to the basement, then. Make sure I'm all set to go and see if I can fix up this 'bursting' thing a bit more."

Elsa's eyes widened a bit in alarm. "Well, maybe you should walk to the-"

BANG

Another flash where Ignus used to be.

After about a second, there was a scream from another part of the castle.

"Ignus! What in...what...how did you just-?"

"Sorry, sorry, Kai! Wrong place…need to concentrate more…"

BANG

Elsa and Anna strained their ears, listening. When there was no resounding scream or cry of alarm, they both assumed Ignus had finally reached his destination.

Anna exhaled deeply, looking at Elsa with mock accusation. "That's _your_ boyfriend."

Elsa smiled. "I know."

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When the morning came, Ignus was waiting outside the castle for Elsa. He was wearing a simple travel jacket. Elsa saw, to her pleasure, that it didn't have a hood.

Ignus noticed her staring. "What?"

"You're jacket doesn't have a hood."

"Yeah. Well, I don't really wear it anymore, so…" He shrugged nonchalantly, but looked happy.

Elsa smiled and looked around. "Is the stable boy getting the horses?"

Ignus whirled his head. "Horses?!"

"Yes, Ignus. We're taking horses."

Ignus winced. "There's nothing I can say to change your mind?"

Elsa smiled and kissed him. "No."

He groaned.

About twenty minutes later, he and Elsa were riding side-by-side on their horses. Ignus was getting more accustomed to horseback, but that didn't mean he enjoyed it any more than he had previously.

"What exactly did the letter say?" Ignus called to Elsa.

"It said that there had been numerous strange occurrences throughout the kingdom. None of the witnesses could properly explain what they saw."

Ignus thought about that. While it wasn't clear whether or not it was indeed magical, it certainly seemed out of the ordinary.

Ignus wasn't too keen to get involved with strange events, but he knew Elsa wanted to know more. Especially when magic could be involved.

He looked out over the distance. There was a herd of wild horses running to his right. Birds flew over his head. The wind blew.

Elsa looked at him. "You alright?"

Ignus nodded. "Just noticed things in motion."

The two horses continued towards the kingdom of Corona.

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"Sir, we've received word that the Queen of Arendelle is coming. She brings with her the Wielder of Fire."

"Thank you, Kale. Ready the men."

"Darling, please…we cannot give them the impression that we blame them. We know nothing yet!"

"I know…but we must be prepared. The men will not strike until given reason to."

"But…"

"Sir! I tried to stop her but the princess-"

"Move, please! Dad, what's going on?! I thought we were greeting the Queen, not raising an army against her!"

"We are not raising an army. We are bracing ourselves. We have reason to believe they mean us harm."

"We don't know that! And how do you think they'll react if they see armed soldiers everywhere when they arrive?"

"She has a point, your majesty."

"Thank you, Eugene. Please, Dad, this is not a good idea!"

"My dear, I know that this makes me appear stubborn and paranoid, but I must think of the Kingdom. If they mean to attack us, we must have a defense ready."

"Please, Rapunzel, I know it's hard to understand, but we must take precautions."

"But…but, Mom…"

"Please try to forgive me, dear."

"Oh, Dad, I'm not angry, it's just…I don't like this. Treating them like they're so different and dangerous…I know what it's like to be an outsider. I just don't like it…"

"Once we can confirm that they mean us no harm, I promise you we will all stand down, and I will give them my full apologies."

"…okay."

"If we cannot…"

The King of Corona stood up and put a hand on his sword.

"We will subdue them."

End Chapter 1

**A/N – Guess who's back, baby.**

**So anyway, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. I've put considerably more thought into the plot of this story than Singed, so it'll take more time for me to update. Unfortunately, there may not be the daily updates I may have accustomed you all to with Singed. **

**Let me know what you thought. Good or bad, I read every review I'm given and take it into account. (Unless…I dunno, it's just gibberish. Then I may not put too much thought into it.)**

**See you soon.**

**-TheStanfordExperiment**


	2. Chapter 2 - A Red Carpet

**A/N – Glad to hear from some of you again. Thanks for the good reviews; it's a huge relief to hear that the first chapter is ok. Well, except for that last part, which confused people way too much. Lesson learned, don't worry.**

** Sorry about the break between updates. Hitting a bit of a wall. Bear with me**

** -TheStanfordExperiment**

**I do not own Frozen.**

Chapter Two – A Red Carpet

Ignus had been to Corona a few times in his life. He liked the town well enough, as most of its citizens were kind and respectful. It had always been a sort of safe haven for him, a place where he could rest himself and stock up without worrying, and maybe if he was lucky catch the flying lanterns festival.

And yet, as Ignus entered the lovely kingdom, he knew something was wrong.

The city was on edge. Citizens spoke tightly, like they were pretending to be social. There was no life in the streets.

It was like they were expecting company they didn't want. Ignus' face darkened.

Elsa noticed his face, but not the crowd. "Ignus? Something the matter?"

"I guess we'll find out when we get there." Ignus answered, darkly.

Elsa gripped her reigns a little tighter. She had always been nervous around new people, especially crowds, and Ignus' foreboding tone was not helping.

"Sorry." Ignus said, as if he could read her mind. "I don't mean to set you on edge. It's fine."

"It doesn't sound fine."

Ignus said nothing.

Their horses slowly trotted towards the majestic castle in the middle of the city. It was as beautiful as the Arendellian castle, though Ignus decided to keep that to himself.

Ignus saw movement on rooftops. Fire lit in his eyes.

"Stay close to me, Elsa."

Elsa looked at him fearfully. "…Alright."

They entered the courtyard of the Coronian Castle. Two guards stood waiting.

"Queen Elsa and Lord Ignus?"

Ignus was jolted out of his caution. _Lord?_

He was about to respond when Elsa cut him off. "Yes. We are here to speak with the King."

One of the guards looked around. "We thought you'd bring men. For protection."

"Well…I didn't see it necessary for what I expect to be a friendly visit."

"And should she need it…" Ignus said, intimidatingly, "I'm her protection."

The guards gulped.

"The uh…throne room is in the first hall, straight ahead."

"Thank you."

Elsa and Ignus dismounted (Ignus stretched his legs) and entered the castle.

Ignus kept looking around him, like he was searching the castle.

"What?" Elsa asked, concerned.

"I don't see many guards."

"Well, why would we? We came here to speak."

"Exactly. There are normally guards here. I've seen them patrolling here when I used to visit Corona. So why would the guards not be here?"

Elsa bit her lip.

"Because they're hiding? Waiting?"

Ignus kept walking, his silence confirming Elsa's suspicions. She put a hand on his arm.

They entered the throne room. It was a large, decorated hall, with four seats on the far wall. Sitting in them was who Ignus presumed to be the royal family. The fellow with the facial hair must be King, and he certainly did not look happy to see them. The woman next to him was most likely Queen, though she looked quite young.

There was a rather cute brunette sitting next to them, probably the Princess, and she looked both nervous and ashamed. A handsome man sat next to her, trying to reassure her of something.

Ignus wanted this all to be some very big misunderstanding on his part, and that there was no reason to fret.

But he had never been wrong in the past about this sort of thing.

The king stood up. "Queen Elsa. Welcome to Corona."

Elsa curtsied. "An honor, your majesty. You have a lovely kingdom."

"And you must be Lord Ignus."

Ignus looked at the man cautiously. "I usually answer to 'Ignus', but if you insist, then yes."

"Thank you for coming so quickly. I hoped to discuss some rather…puzzling events that you two may have knowledge of."

Ignus took a step forward. "I'm happy to hear that, because coincidentally, I'd like to discuss some puzzling things with you that _you_ may have knowledge of."

Elsa reached out to him nervously. "Ignus…"

"Don't worry, Elsa. So, your majesty," Ignus spoke nonchalantly. "What's strange to me is that I visit this lovely little kingdom and I find that nearly every guard in the city is gone. Not on patrol, not out front, not even eating pastries outside on a bench. Why is that?"

The King said nothing. The Queen looked frightened. The Princess looked like she could cry.

"No answer? I'll tell you what I think, then. I think that you have asked your guards to closely but inconspicuously monitor us. And I also guess that there are about…twenty crossbows trained on us right now."

The King looked shaken, but stood strong. Elsa looked around in alarm.

Ignus exhaled. "Your Majesty, I'm not one to shoot first. But you pointing weapons at the Queen makes me question that policy of mine. So, let me ask now. Why are you planning on hurting us?"

Elsa stood very close to Ignus. Frost had begun to fall lightly from her hands.

Ignus' eyes caught fire. "And do not lie to me."

The King closed his eyes and breathed. "These events…many believe them to be caused by you two."

Ignus' eyes widened.

"There have been extreme heat waves in several extremely enclosed locations. They have come and gone in the matter of hours. And there have been inexplicable blizzards in certain areas as well. Fire and Ice…we became worried."

Elsa's eyes shook. She looked mortified.

"That is why I had men follow you. I was afraid you came here to bring another calamity to our kingdom." The King stood tall. "And I will not let that happen."

Ignus felt extreme resentment. He had, of course, not caused any of the strange weather, and he knew Elsa had not either.

But…then again, if these events were, in fact, true, then they were something else. They sounded almost magical. And he and Elsa were pretty much the only well-known magic folk in the country.

So Ignus took a breath. He looked at the King.

"Your majesty, I respect your care for your kingdom and your decision to prepare for our coming. But I swear to you by the flames that burn within me, neither Elsa nor I had any part in the strange events of which you speak."

The King blinked. He looked into Ignus' amber eyes, trying to figure him out.

"You speak the truth?"

"Yes."

The King stood looking at them for a few moments longer.

Then he lifted his hand. Twenty crossbows were sheathed.

He stepped towards the two. "Please, accept my humblest apologies. I was afraid for my kingdom, for my-"

"Your majesty, please." Elsa interrupted. "I do not blame you in the least. I'd have been just as precautious."

The King looked up, relieved. He bowed to the duo.

Ignus breathed again, thought he was still a bit angry with the King.

"Now please, tell us about these calamities." Elsa said.

On to business, as usual with her.

The King walked over to a map on the table. The Princess bobbed over behind him, looking like she had just gotten something huge off her chest.

"I've received word from each of these places that inexplicable waves of heat and cold have passed over them. Gerson, Hullencoop, even the mountainous village of Werenheid."

"Can you explain these occurrences a bit more? Detail-wise?" Ignus inquired.

"Yes. None of them have lasted more than a day, but they have left utter destruction in their wake. They're completely inexplicable…which is why some have written them off as magic." He looked a bit timid saying this.

Ignus looked at the map. The towns were marked on it with small X's.

Elsa frowned at the map in concentration. "What could have caused this?"

Ignus put a hand on his chin, in thought. "I don't know. But whatever it is, it seems like it's linked to our powers."

Elsa looked pained. She hated the thought that her powers may be hurting people.

Ignus, once again, read her face. "I said _linked_ to us. Not caused by. You and I have control, Els. Don't blame yourself."

Elsa, after a moment, nodded, grateful for Ignus' reassurance.

Ignus suddenly leaned in over the map. "Wait a sec…"

He looked up. "Can I draw on the paper?"

The King looked confused, but said, "By all means."

Ignus took out a quill. He then drew lines between all the towns that had been struck across the map, like a big connect-the-dots.

When he finished, he stood back. The lines had created a meaningless symbol. It looked like a trapezoid with several ovals inside of it, with random dots scattered throughout it.

Ignus felt foolish. "Uh…sorry. Worth a try."

"Hold on…" Elsa said, walking up to the map. She stared hard at the outline.

"This…this looks like something I've seen before…"

She traced the outline with her finger. "It resembles an ancient symbol I read in Arendelle's book of Semiotics. These strange dots and circles…there's no mistaking it. It's form the Primordial Language. Only…" Elsa bit her lip. "It's meaning has long since been lost."

Ignus' jaw nearly dropped. It still amazed him how intelligent Elsa was.

The King looked very impressed. "If you say so. We have interpreters here in Corona, but none of them have knowledge of the primordial symbols."

Ignus looked at the map more. "Elsa, you said it only resembles it. Maybe it's not the symbol you're thinking of?"

Elsa shook her head. "No, it's definitely it, it's just that…it looks incomplete. Like it's not been completely drawn yet."

Ignus' mind clicked. "Then…these weird events…they're appearing in the shape of this symbol?"

Elsa shrugged. "It's certainly an odd theory, but it's the only one we have right now."

The King seemed to agree. "Nothing about the circumstances has been normal. At this point, I'm ready to believe the odd."

Ignus clapped his hands. "Then we need to figure out what this symbol means. But…" He seemed to remember. "The people who knew how to speak it are long gone."

The King's eyes were thoughtful. Then he spoke.

"I have heard of a strange man in the woods who has ancient knowledge of languages and civilizations. He never leaves his home, finding the house itself is a hassle, and he usually turns away all who approach him. But at this point, he may be our only option."

Elsa looked skeptical. "A hermit? I don't know…"

Ignus stepped forward. "You'd be surprised how much hermits know. Sometimes it's because they know so much that they want to be left alone. People ask too many questions."

Elsa exhaled. "Alright then. Does anyone know where to find this hermit?"

"That would be where I come in." said a new voice.

The handsome fellow next to the Princess had walked over.

"Prince Eugene of Corona, at your service." He gave them a roguish smile.

"Pleased to meet your acquaintance." Elsa said, extending her hand.

"Pleasure is all mine, your majesty. Though I must say, the reports of your beauty are greatly understated." He continued.

Elsa blushed a tinge. Ignus felt an irk of annoyance.

The King looked somewhat bemused by Eugene's attitude. "This is my son-in-law Prince Eugene. And this…" he held a hand out to the Princess who had walked over. "…Is my daughter, Princess Rapunzel."

The Princess curtsied shyly. "Honor to meet you, Queen Elsa."

Elsa smiled back. "The honor is mine, Princess."

"If I can continue…" Eugene interrupted, earning himself a look from Rapunzel, "I know the path that leads to this oddball in the forest. I can take you both there."

"I shall be accompanying you as well." Rapunzel added.

The King and Eugene both turned simultaneously to say something, but Rapunzel gave them both a determined look.

They cowed and said nothing.

Elsa was impressed. She was starting to like this girl.

The King cleared his throat. "Well then…Rapunzel and Eugene will escort you to the Obscuring Forest. But please," He looked earnestly at Rapunzel. "Be careful."

Rapunzel smiled and hugged him. "Don't worry. I'll be okay."

Ignus lit his hand. "I won't let anything harm either of them, your majesty."

Elsa gave him a sideways glance. "You're acting noble."

"I can be noble!"

"When you're not exploding in and out of rooms." Elsa said, slyly.

"Y-you…ugh…." Ignus groaned while Elsa giggled into her arm. Teasing Ignus had become a new hobby of hers.

"Ahem."

The pair looked up to see Eugene giving them an impatient look. "If you two lovebirds are quite finished…"

"Eugene!"

"Alright, sorry. Just thought time was of the essence here."

Elsa drew herself up. "You are right. We shouldn't delay."

The King nodded. Then his face fell a bit.

"Queen Elsa….Ignus….I am truly sorry for my paranoia…I judged too soon…"

"Don't be." Ignus said. "The only thing that matters is that you were thinking of loved ones. And we both can understand that."

Elsa smiled in agreement.

The King gave a small smile. The Queen joined him at his side.

"Take care, all of you."

"We will, Mom." Rapunzel said, simply radiating excitement.

"Stables are out this way." Eugene said, walking towards the exit.

Ignus, Elsa and Rapunzel followed him.

Ignus then looked out a window to his right. He saw a figure standing on a rooftop, cloaked. His face was blurred through the window.

As soon as Ignus saw him, he ran off.

Ignus groaned. He had hoped he was done with being watched.

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As the four entered the stables (Ignus required some motivation), they were greeted by a rather proud-looking white bronco.

Eugene gave it a sarcastic look. "Trying to show off again?"

The horse snorted in an indignant way, as if to say, "I have no idea what you mean…"

Ignus and Elsa were a bit confused.

"Ignus, Queen Elsa, this is Maximus." Rapunzel said affectionately, hugging the horse's snout. "He's a friend."

Ignus blinked. "And here I thought we had the only guy that could speak to animals."

"What?"

"Nothing."

The horse, or rather Max, snorted at Ignus.

"Max, be nice. This is the Queen and Lord Ignus." Rapunzel said.

Ignus really didn't like this 'Lord' thing.

"Ignus. Just Ignus is fine. Drawback of being with the Queen, no one knows what to call you." Ignus said.

"Ignus." Rapunzel breathed. "Ok, so they're royalty. So be nice alright?"

Elsa then let out a small yelp.

"What?" Ignus looked at her in alarm.

"P-Princess, I think you have a lizard on your shoulder!"

She pointed at a small purple creature, which was blending very well with Rapunzel's dress.

Rapunzel gasped. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't introduce Pascal!" She held out her hand, and the small lizard jumped into it, turning green. It was a chameleon.

"This is Pascal." Rapunzel said proudly. The little green lizard made an odd noise, but it sounded friendly enough.

"Uh..." Elsa took a minute to compose herself. "Hello, Pascal." She said kindly.

The chameleon smiled.

Eugene had come over with another horse. "Not a fan of reptiles, your majesty?"

Elsa seemed a bit abashed. "Well…no, I mean I like them well enough…I was just surprised."

Eugene chuckled. "It's alright, trust me the worst thing this little thing can do to you is give you a wet willy. Although actually…" Eugene grimaced and rubbed his ear. "That is pretty bad."

Pascal gave Eugene a smug look.

Ignus was getting a bit weirded out.

"So…" He tried to change the subject. "The Obscuring Forest was the title?"

"Yes." Rapunzel said as she climbed onto her horse. "It's about a day's journey north of here, if I remember. It's called that because sometimes it can trick people into going the wrong way…" She made spooky noises, then giggled in excitement.

Ignus was reminded heavily of a certain redhead he knew.

"Well…what's not to look forward to?" Ignus said as he climbed aboard the horse. He extended a hand and helped Elsa on.

Elsa looked at Ignus' expression. Her eyes narrowed a bit in confusion.

"What's wrong?"

_Dang._

"I think someone else wants to find out what this symbol is too. I saw someone on the rooftop."

Elsa clenched her fists. "You don't think it's…?"

"No. No, this guy wasn't dressed like a Riverman. He looked….well he looked like I used too. Raggedy, dirty, unbound. A vagabond, like how I was before I met you."

"Sounds like he swept you right off your feet, highness. A wandering vagabond? What's not romantic about that?" Eugene said, overhearing. He had a teasing smile on his face.

"Eugene…" Rapunzel was getting exasperated.

"Okay, okay, sorry. Just having a little fun."

Elsa put a hand on Ignus', smiling. "Well, whoever it was, I'm sure we'll be able to handle it." She had a fierce look in her eye. It made her look quite attractive.

"Yeah. I know." Ignus replied, his amber eyes twinkling.

"All set to go?" Eugene said, turning to them.

"Whenever you are." Ignus replied.

"Let's go, Max!"

The horses kicked off and galloped out of the Kingdom.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

The man in the helmet was getting impatient.

He had been gone for too long.

Right as he was about to get up, he heard a rustling, and turned to see Fenrir coming out of a bush.

"Told you I'd be back in a dash." Fenrir said, his eyes glinting smugly.

"You are late." Snarled the man in the mask.

"Says you." Fenrir yawned.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Where are they going?!" The man in the helmet said, infuriated. "You did manage to gather some shred of information, didn't you?!"

"Geez, calm down, what, a guy can't make a joke?" Fenrir said, maddeningly. He let out a raspy laugh. "They want to see the old forest hermit."

The man in the helmet stood up. "Then that's where we'll go."

"I just got back!"

"Only because you took so long to do it!" The man shouted. "In the future, don't waste my time!"

And he stalked off.

Fenrir exhaled.

"Yeesh, you try to get a guy to lighten up…" He got up and walked after him, laughing to himself as he did.

The sun began to set in the distance, giving the landscape a reddish-orange glow, like it was ablaze.

End Chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3 - Travel Talk

**Author's Note – I want to give you all some chronological exposition.**

**Basically tell you time stuff.**

**I have no idea what the actual canon is (and I'm sure some fan out there has figured it out) but in my story, Rapunzel and Eugene were married 2 years after the events of Tangled (Making Rapunzel about 20-21, very close to Elsa's age.)**

**Also, I call Eugene by his real name instead of Flynn because I just thought that's how Rapunzel would address him from then on.**

**Anywho, enjoy the next chapter. It's short, but bear with me. It'll pick up soon.**

**-TheStanfordExperiment**

Chapter 3 – Travel Talk

"No way."

"It's true."

"Come on, that's a little far-fetched."

"Oh, and of course nothing about being a human matchbox is far-fetched."

"Well, yeah, but magical glowing hair?"

Eugene and Ignus had been doing this for about a half-hour now. Rapunzel, trying to be friendly, had revealed her personal experience with magic in the form of her hair.

Elsa was amazed. Ignus had, obviously, been skeptical.

Rapunzel looked a bit awkward. "Well…it _was_ really weird, I guess…glowing hair and all."

Ignus, looking at Rapunzel's slightly sad face, realized with a pang that he was being very rude.

"N-no! It's not weird at all! I mean, not compared to me, at least." He felt like a jerk.

Rapunzel's face brightened a bit.

"You think glowing hair is odd? Look at this." Ignus concentrated, then his hair burst into flames, like his head was a fireplace.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Eugene.

"Wow!" Rapunzel said, excitedly.

Ignus, smiling a bit, put out his head. He then looked at Elsa.

"I still have hair, right?" He said quietly.

Elsa put a hand on his head, giving him an amused look. "Yes, you still have hair."

Ignus breathed a sigh of relief.

"I didn't know you _could_ light your hair on fire." Elsa said, raising an eyebrow.

"Me neither. Learn something new everyday." Ignus said.

She laughed and leaned against him. Butterflies.

"But enough about me." Rapunzel said to them. "What's it like having powers like yours? It looks amazing!"

Ignus and Elsa gave each other an awkward glance.

"It…uh…" Elsa wasn't quite sure what to say.

"It took some getting used to." Ignus finally said.

Rapunzel noticed the strain in their voices.

"Are they hard to control?"

"Well…" Ignus hesitated.

"Ignus had no trouble controlling his powers." Elsa said, cutting Ignus off. "But I…I wasn't quite as lucky."

Rapunzel's eyes widened. "Is that what happened at the Coronation?"

Elsa did a double take. "You were there for that?!"

"Well, yeah. Eugene and I wanted to take a trip-"

"_She_ wanted to take a trip."

"And we thought it'd be nice to visit Corona!"

Elsa put a hand on her arm, looking down.

"I'm sorry about that…it was a complete disaster-"

"We thought it was awesome!"

"W-wait, what?"

"I mean, once we heard that you did it by accident we were a bit worried about you but it was incredible! Snow in summer! And the whole fjord froze! I've never seen anything like it." Rapunzel was in awe.

"She tried to go ice skating on it, but they wouldn't let her." Eugene said, like he was used to her excited antics.

Elsa's mouth opened, unsure what to say. Ignus grinned.

"I…I mean, um…thanks?"

Rapunzel beamed. "You're welcome. You're lucky to have such a beautiful gift."

Elsa laughed in disbelief. "If you told me that a year ago I'd have called you crazy. I hated my powers. They…isolated me. From Anna. From everyone."

Rapunzel's eyes were full of compassion. "Who's Anna?"

Elsa looked up, realizing she hadn't spoken about her yet. "She's my sister. And the reason I got my powers under control." Elsa smiled, thinking about her. "I have a lot to thank her for."

Rapunzel smiled at her. Then she looked at the trees around them. "I never had siblings. I grew up in a tower my whole life."

Elsa stared at her. "You mean…"

Rapunzel nodded. "Yeah. I spent almost 18 years in that tower, alone, cut off. I didn't realize how much I was missing out on, of course, but…looking back on it is hard."

Elsa was speechless. She never knew anyone else felt the isolation she had. Well, Ignus was alone for his life, yes, but he was free to go wherever he wanted.

_Albeit with some evil mercenaries trying to kill him_, Elsa reminded herself.

Then something clicked in her head.

"Wait…why did you grow up in a tower? Surely you grew up in the castle?"

Rapunzel looked down, saddened. It was obviously something hard for her to talk about. Elsa was about to apologize when Eugene interrupted.

"Do you want me to tell them?"

Rapunzel looked up, then nodded gratefully.

_She really is like a little girl_, Ignus thought to himself, feeling a bit sad for her.

"Rapunzel was kidnapped as a baby by a woman named Mother Gothel."

Elsa put a hand to her mouth in shock. Ignus' eyes darkened.

"See, the reason Rapunzel's hair could heal was because the Queen was given a magic flower to heal her while she was pregnant. Rapunzel kind of…inherited that healing ability in her hair. But this old woman…she had been using the flower to keep herself young, without sharing it. She was desperate to keep her looks. Lovely lady, I know." He added, seeing Ignus' expression.

"Anyway, she snuck into the palace one night and kidnapped Rapunzel, keeping her in a tower her whole life. She pretended to be her mother and raised her."

Ignus whistled softly. He couldn't believe Rapunzel had turned out as nice as she was.

"In any case, she's not around anymore. I cut Rapunzel's hair so she couldn't heal me when I got stabbed-"

"Wait, what?"

"Long story. Anyway, when I cut her hair, it turned into this short brunette style…which is beautiful, by the way," he added to a smiling Rapunzel. "And Gothel couldn't stay young anymore."

Ignus got the picture.

Elsa was almost shaking. "That's…that's so tragic…"

Rapunzel looked almost apologetic. "No, no it's not! I'm okay now, I have Eugene and my family! Also I found out I'm a princess." She shrugged excitedly. "Kind of a dream come true."

Elsa still looked sad.

Rapunzel was frantic. "I mean, I'm sorry about what you had to go through! I can't imagine what it was like to live like that…frightened about yourself as much as other people..."

Elsa put a hand to her eye, wiping a stubborn tear. "Look at us…it's like we're having a pity competition."

"Yeah, come on, you two." Ignus interrupted. "You're both royalty for crying out loud."

"Seriously. I bet it was real easy to feel bad about life while you were sleeping on your nice pillows and having good food." Eugene added, his eyebrows raised.

Elsa and Rapunzel both sheepishly apologized.

"Besides." Ignus looked away. "If it _was_ a contest I'd totally win."

"Come again?" Eugene challenged.

"I was on the run almost my whole life."

"Really? Join the club."

"I didn't have parents."

"Boo-hoo. Me neither."

"I had mercenaries trying to kill me."

"I was a wanted criminal."

"Elsa, tell them how bad you feel for me!" Ignus said to her.

Elsa was utterly miffed. "Seriously?"

"Guys, guys! Remember about twelve seconds ago when we agreed this _wasn't_ a competition?" Rapunzel said, both amused and annoyed.

"Yes…" both Eugene and Ignus said.

"But if it was…"

"Ignus!"

"Alright, alright, I'm done."

Ignus narrowed his eyes at Eugene, who did the same. They seemed to be having a silent argument.

Elsa sighed. Rapunzel giggled.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

About an hour later, the sun had gone down. Ignus had created two small balls of fire that circled around the horses, acting like floating lanterns.

"We should stop for tonight. We should get there by noon tomorrow." Eugene said, bringing Maximus to a standstill.

"Alright then." Ignus replied. He sounded very happy to be off the horse.

Elsa climbed down and stretched her arms. With a wave of her hand, she created a canopy above them, in case rain came. Ignus snapped his fingers and a glowing fire appeared on the ground in front of them.

Eugene whistled. "You two sure do come in handy. Don't suppose you can make beds?"

"Not unless you want to sleep on a solid block of ice."

"Or fire. Duh."

Eugene's grin flopped comically.

Rapunzel looked at the magical creations. "This is just incredible…" she said, her eyes full of wonder.

Elsa smiled. She quite liked Rapunzel. She never really had any friends throughout her life, except Anna of course. But it still felt good to connect with someone not just because of relation.

Elsa waved her hand, frost falling lightly out of it. "Would you like to see more?"

Rapunzel squealed excitedly. She and Elsa walked away, chatting excitedly.

Ignus and Eugene watched them leave.

Ignus snorted.

"What?" Eugene said, surprised by this outburst.

"Everyone wants to see the ice…"

"Well, it _is _way cooler than fire."

"Leave the bad puns to me, Prince Charming."

Eugene crossed his arms and smiled, looking at where the two ladies used to be.

"She's quite something."

Ignus tensed for a second, then relaxed. "Yeah. Yeah she is. I like Rapunzel too."

Eugene blinked. "Who did you think I was talking about?"

Ignus gave him a baffled look. "Er…no one."

Eugene burst out laughing. "I'm only kidding. Elsa seems wonderful."

Ignus shook his head at Eugene's antics. But he chuckled.

"Was it weird for you too when you realized you loved royalty?"

"Oh yeah. I never thought I'd fall for a _Queen_."

"Trust me. The life of a prince could be way worse."

Ignus went a bit red. "We're…not there yet."

"I know. But…" Eugene winked. "You will."

Ignus put a hand on the back of his head. He didn't admit it, but he wanted nothing more.

He then heard a faint rustling.

He looked around at the bushes.

Eugene noticed. "What?"

Ignus said nothing. "Could you ask the girls to come back? I think it's best we stay together. I'll keep an eye out tonight?"

"Why? Is something out there?"

Ignus closed his eyes, exhaling. "I really hope not."

_But then again, hope never seemed to really like me that much._

End Chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4 - A Wooden Mask

**Author's Note – Thanks to mischief426 for reminding me that it's 'Gothel', not 'Gospel'.**

**Also shout-out to LovelySheree, because I really should have done one by now.**

**Enjoy the next chapter. **

Chapter 4 – The Wooden Face

Sleep was for the weak, anyway.

Ignus was trying to convince himself of that as he followed Eugene and Rapunzel through the Obscuring Forest.

He had stayed awake all night keeping an eye out. When morning came, Elsa had been shocked to see him sitting on a stump, his eyes looking like they had rusted.

She had been helping him walk since they arrived at the forest about twenty minutes ago.

"Honestly, we could have taken turns! You didn't have to stay up all night!"

"Mmmm…." Ignus mumbled.

Eugene looked back at Ignus as he walked through the forest. "Can't you, I don't know, hit him with a snowball?"

Elsa realized she _could_ in fact do that.

"GAH! COLD!"

"Sorry…"

"Elsa!"

"I said sorry! You need to be awake! This forest is supposed to trick you, remember?"

"Yes, I remember. But considering how much we've gotten through before, a magic forest hardly seems intimidating-"

"Wait, where'd Eugene and Rapunzel go?" Elsa looked around in alarm.

The two of them were alone in the forest. An awkward silence fell.

Elsa looked accusingly at Ignus, who had the nerve to look embarrassed.

"My bad."

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

"Eugene, stop! We lost them!"

"What? They were right behind us…"

Turning back, Eugene saw nothing but a very worried brunette and lots of trees.

"Hm. Okay, that might be problematic."

"What are we gonna do?! We're lost in the forest like Dad said!" Rapunzel looked ready to hyperventilate.

"Hey, hey! Don't worry, they can protect themselves just fine. And we'll find them, and get out. I promise."

Rapunzel looked at him with puppy eyes. "You know how I feel about promises."

Eugene flashed a smile. "Of course I do."

Rapunzel loosened up. "Okay. But…how did we lose them? How exactly does this forest work, anyway? They were right behind us!"

Eugene shrugged. "I only have experience in glowing hair. Not a very broad subject of magic."

"Well, maybe they turned invisible!"

"I highly doubt that."

"Okay…wait! Let's try calling them! ELSAA-"

"Sssh!" Eugene put a hand to her mouth. "We don't know what else is in this forest-"

"Rapunzel?" A familiar voice answered her.

"Elsa!" Rapunzel tried to locate the source of the voice. "Where are you?!"

"We don't know…but you sound close!"

"Stay right there! We're on our way!" Rapunzel grabbed Eugene and ran towards the voice.

After about a minute of running, she and Eugene stopped. "Hello? Elsa?"

"Still here!"

Eugene frowned. "Wait…they sound like they're in the exact same spot as before! Shouldn't they have gotten louder?"

"It's the forest." Ignus' voice echoed. "It's messing with our heads. Somehow it's throwing our voices. We'll never find each other if we try to listen."

"How are we supposed to do it then?"

"Beats me."

Eugene exhaled, frustrated. "Lovely."

"I mean, I could always burn down the forest…"

"Ignus!"

"Kidding! Kidding! But maybe…you could create a signal? Like one of your fireworks?"

"Yes…of course! Rapunzel, Eugene, look up!"

The couple complied.

A minute passed. Nothing.

"Judging by your silence, I'm guessing you didn't see that?" Ignus' voice came back.

"Not a single snowflake." Eugene answered, crestfallen.

"This is ridiculous!" Elsa's voice exclaimed. "How on earth is one supposed to get out of here?"

Ignus was quiet. Then…

"Rapunzel, Eugene. Don't follow my voice or your eyes. Feel the air a bit."

Eugene gave a skeptical look. "Uh…you feeling alright, matchstick?"

"Just…" Ignus tried not to comment on the "matchstick" thing "feel the air. What do you notice?"

Rapunzel closed her eyes and held out her hands. Eugene sighed in reluctance.

She was silent for a few moments, then said "Um…the air feels a bit warmer over here…"

"Yes!" Ignus said. "That's me! I've increased my body heat. Follow that!"

"But…what makes you think it will lead them to us?" Elsa asked.

"Nothing, really. But if the forest messes with some of your senses, maybe it amplifies others."

Eugene shrugged. "Worth a shot."

And so Rapunzel and Eugene stretched out their arms, following the heat they felt in the air. They walked about five minutes.

Then they stumbled through a few bushes to find Ignus and Elsa standing there waiting.

"Howdy." Ignus grinned.

"It worked!" Elsa breathed.

"Yay!" Rapunzel squealed.

"I'm fine, by the way."

Three heads gave Eugene a look.

"Alright, geez."

Rapunzel walked over and hugged Ignus and Elsa, the latter of which was quite surprised. She returned it nonetheless, however.

"I was so worried!" Rapunzel said, withdrawing.

"Nah, we had it under control." Ignus said, shrugging.

"That was good thinking there, Ig." Eugene complimented.

"Oh, I thought I was 'matchstick'?"

"Only when you're on fire."

"Which is almost all the time."

"Guys!" Elsa interrupted. "Back to business?"

"Fine." The two responded.

The four continued walking (keeping an arm on each other) into the forest. It seemed to be less hostile now for some reason, Elsa noticed.

After a while longer, they entered a large clearing, with a rather simple and ugly hut in the center. It had a door on it.

Ignus clapped once. "Bingo. Nothing says 'hermit' like an old hut"

Rapunzel looked up and down at the odd structure. "It looks…nice…"

Eugene walked towards the door and knocked melodiously.

No response.

Frowning a bit, Eugene knocked again.

Still nothing.

"Uh…hello? Mister…ah, hermit? Anyone home?"

After more silence, Eugene turned away.

"Anyone else want to try? Because apparently I'm doing this wrong."

BAM BAM BAM

Eugene nearly jumped a foot as the pounding rang out from behind the door.

Elsa's eyes furrowed in confusion. "Did…that come from the other side of the door?"

Eugene, a bit hesitantly, knocked again. _Tap tap tap._

BAM BAM BAM

"Uh…hello? Can you let us in?"

Silence.

Eugene knocked again. _Rap rap rap_.

BAM BAM BAM

"Oh, for the love of…" Ignus, his eyes fiery with irritation, stormed over and pounded on the door.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG

"Hey! I know you're there! We need help, now open the d-"

WHAM

Ignus' nose was rapidly introduced to the door as it flung open.

There stood a man, about Ignus' height (which was pretty tall). He was skinny, wore a simple brown robe with sandals, and had dirty hands. The weirdest thing, however, was that he wore a wooden mask, which had a face that appeared to be smiling on it.

Ignus staggered away, plugging his nearly-broken nose. "What d'yew 'ink yerr 'oing?!"

The hermit brought a hand to the mouth of the painted face on his mask. He then beckoned them inside.

Eugene looked at the creepy man. Then he looked at Elsa questioningly.

Elsa, who was also a bit freaked out, nodded nonetheless. "Let's go in."

Rapunzel walked over to Eugene and stood close to him, walking inside. Elsa jogged over to Ignus, who was healing his nose, his hands glowing.

"Is it bad?" she asked, concerned.

"No. But…it could use some ice."

"Oh, right! Hang on…" Elsa put a hand on his nose, which iced over a tinge.

Ignus sighed in relief. "Thank you."

Elsa smiled. Then she beckoned towards the door, where the hermit was tapping his feet impatiently. Ignus followed her inside.

The inside of the hut, oddly enough, looked nothing like the outside. There were some comfy-looking chairs set up, a warm fireplace glowing, even a stove. It was actually very nice.

Eugene chuckled in surprise. "Guess you don't judge a book by it's-OW!"

The hermit had slapped his hand with a thin walking stick. He then pointed at Ignus, then at one of the chairs.

Ignus, not wanting to get anywhere near the haphazard man before him, hesitated before sitting.

The hermit kneeled in front of him and grabbed his hand (Ignus recoiled a bit). The Hermit poked it, felt the fingertips, and traced outlines on it, like he was looking for something.

Everyone was getting very weirded out.

Ignus, at his limit, yanked his hand away and stood up.

"Enough! Listen, I'm sorry I was rude at the door, but we really don't have much time. We want to ask-WHOA!" He dodged out of the way as the Hermit swung his stick at him.

"Always ask!"

The hermit had finally spoken. His voice was deep and scratchy.

Ignus was too confused to be angry. "What?"

"Always always always they ask! Every time! Never anything else!" He walked around in great agitation.

Eugene looked confused. "Well, yeah, you're supposed to have the answers-OW!"

The hermit had once again hit him.

"Would you stop that?! OW!"

"Eugene, maybe you should just stop-Ouch!"

"Hey! Don't hit her-GAH!"

"Would you-OW!"

"Please-DAH!"

The Hermit raised his stick again, threateningly.

Eugene and Rapunzel fell silent, rubbing the places where the hermit had smacked them.

The hermit then turned to look at Elsa, who seemed both frightened and intrigued. The hermit drew closer, staring with his painted-on eyes into hers. Ignus walked a bit closer to her, warning the hermit.

"Much." The hermit concluded.

Elsa opened her mouth to ask a question, but Eugene quickly gave her the "ix-nay".

Instead, Elsa just gave the hermit a questioning look.

"Much love. You have much love. For him." He pointed as Ignus without looking at him. "For sister. For kingdom. Yes…"

Elsa couldn't resist. "How did you know that?"

She winced.

However, the hermit did not hit her. He simply sat down.

"I felt."

"Uh…come again?"

"I felt!" He shot to his feet, making Ignus and Elsa both jump. "I felt! Why do people not feel! Always blah blah blah, talking talking smell smell watch watch hear hear taste taste! Given five senses, not four! Feel! You found each other in forest not by seeing, not by hearing or speaking nor tasting. You felt him!" He stared at Rapunzel, who didn't dare speak.

"And you!" He then pointed at Ignus, who was now listening intently. "I did not hear your frustration, nor did I hear the other's requests!" (Ignus assumed he meant Eugene) "I _felt_ the frustration in your knocking! The need! Desperation!"

"And I felt your spirit in your hand."

Ignus looked back, silent.

"So much pain…hatred, fear, loneliness…crushing loneliness. Revenge, fury, regret, blood, sweat…it stains your soul."

Ignus' eyes narrowed. He looked down a bit. Elsa's heart squeezed.

"But I could feel your love, too. Overwhelming love for her. The redemption. How your decisions changed you. The gratitude. And the power you wield inside you!"

Ignus looked back up, his eyes glowing softly.

"And I felt the question you need answered."

Ignus said nothing. Then he nodded softly.

"Do you know anything…anything at all about the strange events?"

The hermit was silent. Then he removed his mask.

Ignus stared into the face of a man who looked only thirty. He had no hair on his head or face, but both his eyes were completely white. His face was covered in freckles and spots. His face was young, but somehow he looked much older.

"Yes."

Rapunzel's eyes widened at the sight of the man. Eugene looked shocked. Elsa put a hand to her mouth in amazement.

The hermit walked over to a table. On it was a map of the country.

Quick as a flash, the hermit had taken a piece of charcoal and drawn the exact symbol that Ignus had back in the Coronian palace.

"You seek meaning in this."

Ignus nodded again.

"This symbol…one of the oldest in the land. Represents fierce battle."

"Battle?"

The hermit looked sharply at Rapunzel, whose hand shot to her mouth, covering it. The hermit smiled a bit. Ignus saw that he was clearly enjoying this.

"Yes. Big battle. Happened very, very long time ago."

"In early years of world, men guarded by spirits. Spirits could make miracles happen. Was time of peace and prosperity. But as time went on, one man became jealous of power. Trained hard to kill spirits and take power for his own. Big battle. Everyone lose."

Ignus was completely lost. The hermit was talking very fast, and not articulating much…

"But…what do you mean? What battle, what spirits? Would it kill you to speak slow-"

_Click_

Ignus had heard that click before. Too many times.

It had followed him as he ran throughout his life. It only heralded one thing-pain.

It was the sound of a crossbow firing.

Ignus hadn't trained much recently. He was rusty.

He knew the arrow was flying towards the hermit. He needed information out of the man, so losing him was not an option.

Quick as a flash, Ignus' right arm shot out, coming between the arrow and the hermit. The arrow lodged itself deep into Ignus' bicep.

Ignus groaned in pain and collapsed.

Rapunzel and Elsa screamed. Eugene shouted. The hermit said nothing, but ferociously threw his mask back on and whirled his stick like a weapon.

Ignus' ears were ringing, and he could hear muffled shouts and crashes. He then realized Elsa was next to him, holding his face in her hands, trying to get him to look at her.

"…_nus….ignus, are you…ease, be okay…"_

Ignus knew what was happening. His mouth strained to make words.

"Els…"

He felt Elsa stop moving. Her teary eyes looked at him, full of panic and fear.

"P-p…"

The world spun. His vision blurred.

"Poisoned…"

Then his eyes closed, and there was nothing but darkness.

End Chapter 4


	5. Chapter 5 - Bond

**Author's Note – Sorry about that.**

**I'm flattered that so many of you have praised this as sequel-worthy to Frozen (and by 'this' I mean both Singed and this story). **

**I don't think its quite Disney-worthy, though, for those of you who have told me to 'sell' it to them. I appreciate it nonetheless. **

**Anyway, enjoy the next chapter. Sorry about length. Trying to get another writing stride. **

**-TheStanfordExperiment**

**Like a crow chasing a butterfly, I do not own Frozen. **

Chapter 5 – Bond

Fenrir was breathing heavily.

He was bruised and injured, and he had run for quite a ways. But this wasn't why his breath came in sharp bursts.

He was excited. No, that wasn't enough. He was _entranced_. His dark green eyes glinted with awe. He slid down against a tree.

The man in the helmet came crashing through the foliage behind him, also breathing heavily.

"Fenrir!"

The silver-haired man said nothing, staring upwards like he was dreaming.

The man stalked over and hit him on the back of the head, hard.

"Ow! Oh, hey there."

"What…was…THAT?!" The man was livid.

"That was absolutely incredible, I know." Fenrir looked back up, smiling madly.

The man smashed his mace against a nearby tree, leaving a deep scar.

"You said…" the man spoke through gritted teeth. "You were a match for them!"

Fenrir laughed. "I meant the two normal people and the hermit. But her majesty and her flame?" He tut-tutted. "That's a tall order."

"Then we've done all this for _nothing?!_" The man looked ready to hit Fenrir with the mace.

"Whoa whoa, you're gonna melt that helmet a' yours." Fenrir stood up and stretched. "Maybe you shoulda helped me out more."

The man stiffened. "I did."

"Eh."

"What do you mean, 'eh'?!"

"You fired a crossbow at the old guy then swung a mace a few times, not hitting the mark on any of them."

"I hit the fire-wielder!"

"Yeah, and that only served the purpose of getting the Queen in a right state. She was about to turn us into ice sculptures if we hadn't hoofed it. And that hermit is a weird fellow, but he ain't someone to mess with."

The man sat down, angrily wrenching his mace. "So…we accomplished nothing except killing the fire boy."

"Oh he's not dead. Not with the hermit around."

The man looked at Fenrir. "Even when I poisoned the arrow?"

Fenrir's eyes widened a bit. Then he smiled maliciously. "Well, look at you."

"Shut up. It was still a waste."

"Well…I did get a good look at that map. And now we know what it represents. And…" Fenrir's eyes glinted. "I know where the next calamity will fall."

The man looked up, a bit less hostile now. "Where?"

Fenrir smiled evilly.

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_…going to kill him…_

_…back, I need space…_

_…nus, please wake up…_

_…ou can do it!..._

"Wake up, now."

Ignus' eyes flew open as he bolted upright, yelling in panic.

Everyone around him jumped, except the hermit, his wooden mask smiling as usual.

"Back with us?"

Ignus breathed heavily, trying to speak, when Elsa rushed forward and hugged him. She was shaking.

Ignus put a hand on her back and patted her, mumbling, "M'alright…"

"We thought you weren't." Eugene was standing with an arm on Rapunzel, who looked like she had been worried sick. "You were pale as a ghost, and then Elsa told us about the poison…"

Elsa stiffened in Ignus' arms.

"Well, he is." The hermit said, impatiently. "And now must talk."

"Ignus, look at arm."

Ignus, still a little groggy, complied. His eyes nearly checked out of their rooms in his skull.

The wound where the arrow had hit him was completely iced over, even the inside. A web of ice spread out from it, up and down his arm, like his veins had turned to ice.

Ignus made a confused kind of noise.

Elsa broke away and looked at him, her eyes red. "Ignus, I'm sorry, I panicked and you said there was poison and…" She didn't continue and buried her head in Ignus' chest.

"Was right decision." The hermit said. "Saved his life. Majesty shot magic into injury. Froze poison in veins. Will prevent death."

Ignus looked down in amazement at his arm. He flexed it experimentally. It seemed to work fine, though it felt a bit numb.

"So…will it stay like this?"

"Only if you want poison to stay frozen."

Ignus exhaled. He did kind of want that…

Elsa was now lightly crying.

"Aw, Els." Ignus tried to comfort her. "You saved my life! Why are you upset? I figured you'd be used to it by now…" He smiled warmly.

"But…I…my magic-"

"Saved me."

"Last time it hit someone, it…it froze her solid…"

"That was the heart, Els. And when you didn't have control of your powers. Now you do, and it's fine. Besides, it looks pretty chill."

Elsa still looked down.

"Get it? Chill…?"

Wow. His pun had failed. She must feel _really _bad.

Ignus put a hand on her face and lifted it up to meet his eyes, which were twinkling brightly. "Hey. I'm fine. It's like I have a little piece of you with me all the time. That's not so bad, is it?"

Elsa flushed. The, very slowly, she smiled.

Ignus gave her a kiss. "There we go."

Then his eyes flashed as he remembered the click of the crossbow. He looked up sharply at the hermit.

"Who attacked us?"

The hermit shook his head. "Not know. Man with silver hair and man with helmet."

Then the hermit knelt next to Ignus. "Tried to kill me with arrow. Thank you."

Ignus felt a bit awkward. "Uh…no problem. Just…y'know we needed info.""

He changed the subject. "Why'd they leave? I mean…what happened after I conked out?"

Eugene chuckled. "You're girlfriend wasn't too happy."

He gestured at a very large hole in the wall.

Elsa looked a bit sheepish. "I kind of…lost it a bit."

Ignus couldn't help but smile teasingly. "Aaaaww."

"Oh, shush."

"AAAAAWWW."

"Shush!" Elsa lightly smacked his shoulder.

"She totally kicked their butts." Rapunzel said, looking satisfied. "They ran away like losers."

The hermit nodded. "Slammed ice fist into face of helmet man. Trust me, he felt that."

Elsa, despite her assurances that it was nothing, looked quite pleased with herself.

Ignus looked out the window. "What did they want?"

The hermit frowned. "They wanted this."

He walked over to the wall, where a large painting of the country was. There were dots all over the map, in a pattern that resembled…

"The symbol." Ignus saw. "How did we miss it?"

The hermit drew breath, but Eugene interrupted. "Let me guess, we were supposed to feel it?"

The hermit looked back at him. "Feel map? Nonsense. Simply didn't see it."

Eugene was about to retort, but Rapunzel squeezed his hand, signaling him to drop it.

Elsa pressed on. "Why do you have this?"

The hermit slumped a bit. "Knew day would come. Kept this. Tells where next event will occur."

Elsa's eyes widened. "Amazing! But…will being in one of these events help us figure out what causes them?"

"Yes." The hermit said no more.

Eugene looked at him suspiciously. "You said something about a battle. About where the symbol came from. How?"

Silence.

Ignus looked at the hermit. "You know what's happening, don't you?"

More silence.

Elsa walked over to him. "If you do, please tell us wh-"

"No. We're done here." Ignus said, looking at the hermit with a bit of annoyance.

"Wh…but Ignus!"

"He won't tell us."

"Why not?"

"Because he doesn't think it should be like that. He wants us to go to an event and feel."

Eugene raised an eyebrow. "_Feel_ it? Come on, Ig, are we really supposed to take that seriously?"

Rapunzel looked deep in thought. Then…

"Ignus is right. We need to get to one."

Eugene sighed. Checkmate.

Ignus walked over to the map. There were numbers next to each dot.

"Elsa, what was the most recently affected village?"

"Uh…it was Werenheid, wasn't it?

"Yeah, that's right, so next is…" Ignus' finger ran along the map.

Then it froze. Ignus' eyes flashed in panic.

"What?"

Ignus looked at Elsa.

"It's us. It's Arendelle."

Elsa's head spun.

"Anna…"

She ran out the door.

"Wait! Elsa!" Eugene called out after her.

"Hold on!" Rapunzel ran out after her.

Ignus sprinted past both of them and stopped in front of Elsa.

"Listen."

"We need to get back, we need to _stop it_-"

"ELSA."

She looked at Ignus with utter panic on her face.

"It'll take us at least two days to get back to Arendelle."

"I don't care!" Elsa yelled passionately. "We need to get back!"

"I know. So let me go back first."

Elsa stopped. "Wait, wh-what do you mean?"

"I can burst back home. I can be there instantly."

"Ignus, one room to another is one thing, but across the country?!"

"Trust me, I got this. And one of us needs to be there. Hopefully...it'll be cold and not hot."

"But…"

Ignus looked at her, his eyes blazing with confidence.

"Alright. But please, be careful."

"I'm always careful. It just never helps." Ignus smiled.

Elsa walked over and kissed him. Then she took a few steps back, signaling Eugene and Rapunzel to do the same.

Ignus closed his eyes. He focused hard, thinking of the room where he first awoke all those months ago, when his life changed.

Then his eyes flew open and he burst into flames, disappearing.

Rapunzel and Eugene stood speechless, looking at the crater that had been left by Ignus' departure.

Elsa started walking out of the forest.

"Wait, Elsa, where did he go?" Rapunzel chased after her.

Elsa turned and looked at her. "Hopefully…Arendelle."

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BANG

Ignus tumbled out of a smoke cloud and fell to the ground, his head spinning.

His whole body felt weak, like he had just run a marathon. It seemed that distance was a factor in how much energy it took to 'burst'.

Looking around hesitantly, Ignus tried to identify where he was. He was in a stable.

Looking to his left, he saw a single sheep sitting there. It nonchalantly said "baa".

Ignus put a hand to his eyes. Figures…

He wanted to end up in a nice, royal room, and instead he gets sheep.

Standing up, and trying not to think about how he must smell, Ignus walked towards the exit of the smelly barn.

As he neared the door, he could feel a biting cold emanating from it, like an evil spirit telling him to back off.

_Sorry, can't do that._

Ignus pushed open the doors.

A furious wind slashed against him as he walked into a raging blizzard.

Ignus shielded his eyes as best he could, walking out into the street. He looked to his right and left, but could hardly see anything through the storm.

It was catastrophic. There was about a foot of snow on the ground and everything looked completely frozen solid. There were no signs of anyone on the streets except for himself. Ignus couldn't even tell if he was actually in Arendelle.

Then he had an idea.

Ignus concentrated hard and shot what fire he had left out of his feet, propelling him upwards into the air, higher and higher, right into the storm clouds above him.

Wind and snow and unbelievable cold struck him, but he still ascended.

Finally, he broke through the clouds and looked down, high above the land. What he saw stunned him.

He was hovering over what was definetely Arendell. It was encased in a sphere-like storm, completely concentrated around the kingdom. There was not another cloud in sight for miles.

_Magical storms? _This had to be what the King was talking about. And now it had come to Arendelle.

Fire lit in Ignus' eyes. Luckily, it was a blizzard, not a heat wave.

He didn't really know how cool things. But heat things up a bit? That he could definitely do.

Confidence flowing through his veins, Ignus shot back down towards the storm.

End Chapter 5


	6. Chapter 6 - Little Lost Girl

**A/N – Alright, I think I got some focus back. Let's see what happens.**

**Thanks for reading, again.**

**-TheStanfordExperiment**

**Yo Angela, I don't own Frozen.**

Chapter 6 – Little Lost Girl

Landing had not been as easy as Ignus had hoped.

His powers had been used pretty thoroughly already, and slowing himself at terminal velocity was a task his body was not quite up to.

Fire shot weakly out of his hands and feet as he desperately tried to ease himself to the ground. He was able to aim towards a nearby haystack and land in it.

He hit the stack hard, nearly breaking his arm. He gasped for breath, climbing out of the haystack clumsily.

The wind buffeted him as he stared at the haystack.

_You'd think that it'd be softer…_

He looked around the abandoned street, straining his eyes to see through the cold.

He climbed to the top of a roof and looked around, seeing nothing but the raging storm around him.

"Hello?!"

The wind was the only answer.

"Uh…I'm not really sure whether or not I'm doing this right, but…am I talking to anybody? A spirit maybe?"

Ignus looked around, a bit lost. He had no idea what to do. He wanted to conjur up some fire to combat the storm, but he was still running on empty. The overwhelming cold was slowing his body's recovery.

Then Ignus heard a voice.

"…are…doing here?"

Ignus strained his ears, trying to find the source.

"Hello!?" He now had to shout over the storm.

Then he saw a faded silhouette in the distance. It looked small.

Ignus ran towards it, calling out. "Hey! Who are you?!"

As he neared the figure, he realized it was a small girl with short, stark-white hair. She stood there in the middle of the roof, looking at Ignus. He couldn't see her very clearly.

Ignus stared at her, totally baffled.

"Uh…hi!"

The girl smiled, looking surprised.

"H…are…doing?"

Ignus' brow furrowed. The girl's voice was coming in and out. He could hardly understand it.

"Um…aren't you cold?"

"N…lly…ot…cold!"

Ignus couldn't understand her at all.

"Listen, you need to get inside! This storm'll give you frostbi-"

He stopped speaking. The girl had started glowing blue.

"What the-"

The girl looked almost frightened. "Wrong…one...ot...ough!"

She started to disappear into the snow. Ignus ran forward, alarmed.

"Hey! What's going on?! Who are you!?"

The girl's body turned to snow and flew away.

Ignus stood, paralyzed, staring at where she had been.

Then, all of a sudden, the blizzard faded. The wind cooled. The clouds faded. Ignus felt sunlight on his skin, warming him and giving him new strength.

He looked around, trying to find any trace of where the girl had gone. Or the storm. But there was nothing. It was like they had just disappeared.

Ignus wondered how it was possible for something, at this point, to shock him. He was pretty sure he had seen it all.

Then he looked to his left and saw a very familiar head sitting on top of a chimney.

"Wait…huh?"

"Ignus! You're back! Hooray!"

Olaf's head was perched precariously on the chimney next to Ignus.

"Hey, could you give me a hand and pick me up before I fall?"

Ignus complied, holding Olaf's head out from him so he could talk to him.

"Where's your body?"

"No clue. I was strolling about in the streets when the gigantic blizzard hit. It blew my body all over the place!"

Ignus winced. "That could take a while to find."

Olaf laughed. "Oh, it'll be fiiiine. Life as a head isn't that bad. You just need to come to terms that you can't ever do anything ever again."

_Jeez…_

"Olaf, did you see that little girl I was just talking to?"

Olaf frowned. "Is this, like, a code of some kind? Are we being watched?"

"No, Olaf, we're not bei-"

"SSSH! They could be anywhere!" Olaf's head scanned around. "Here, put me on the back of your head. Then we'll be able to see everything."

"OLAF. We're not being watched. I really, actually saw a little girl."

"Oh." Olaf's face looked confused. "Then no. I didn't see anyone except you."

Ignus frowned. He knew the girl was close enough for Olaf to see…

"Ooo! Did Elsa give you a tattoo?"

"What?" Ignus was jarred out of his thoughts.

"That's so cool! It looks like you're arms been poisoned with ice!"

"Ah." Ignus looked at his arm, remembering his new look. "Well…that's not far off the mark."

"Ooo, and I love how it changes shape!"

"Yeah." Ignus shook his head.

Then he did a double take.

"Wait, what do you mean mo-"

Then he felt a sharp pain in his arm. He dropped Olaf, groaning in pain.

"Whoa! Ignus, are you okay?"

Ignus didn't speak. His arm felt like it was being squeezed.

Then the pain stopped. Ignus looked at the arm. His heart skipped a beat.

The ice had spread. The chunk covering his wound had spread out, and the ice in his veins had extended farther.

Ignus' breath was heavy.

Olaf looked thoughtful. "So…everything okay?"

Ignus looked at Olaf's questioning face. He knew if he made a big deal out of it Olaf would only want to tell people more.

"Yeah. Yeah, everything's cool. Just a tattoo, Olaf. Just…let me tell Elsa about it, okay?"

Olaf's head bounced. "Okey-dokey!"

Ignus then remembered something. He looked up towards the castle.

"Olaf, are Anna and Kristoff okay?"

"They were in the castle last I saw them."

Ignus picked up Olaf's head and ran across the rooftops, the heat from his body melting the snow as he ran.

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Arriving at the castle, Ignus pushed open the enormous gates. They had nearly been frozen shut.

He spotted a small bouncing white ball to his left.

"Uh, that one of your feet?"

Olaf gasped happily. "Yay! Now I can balance on one foot!"

Ignus picked it up and, a little unsure of how to put it on, simply stuck in onto Olaf's neck.

"Whoa! So that's what feet feel like!" Olaf exclaimed.

"I'll take your word for it."

Ignus banged on the door of the castle.

There was a scuffle inside, like someone had slipped in their hurry to answer the door.

Sure enough, the door burst open and a very worried Anna appeared out from it.

"Ignus!" She ran forward and hugged him.

Ignus smiled. "Hey, pigtails."

"Where were you guys? We got no word from you or Elsa…"

Anna looked around. "Wait…where _is _Elsa?"

"She's okay." Ignus walked inside, carrying Olaf with him. "But she'll be another day or so before she gets here.

"Why?"

"I took a shortcut." He looked at her, smirking a bit.

Anna understood. "The 'burst' thing really works?"

"It works well enough."

Anna still looked worried. "Ignus, do you know what caused that storm? Was it…"

"It wasn't Elsa, that I know." Ignus said. Anna sighed with relief.

"But…I still have no clue what's causing these crazy events."

He remembered the little girl.

"…there was something."

"What?"

"Outside on the roof there was a little girl. She looked like the cold had no effect on her. She tried speaking to me, but her words came in and out. I couldn't understand her. Although…"

He suddenly remembered. "She said 'wrong one'."

Anna frowned. "Ignus, what are you talking about?"

"Come on, let's find Kristoff. There's a lot I want to tell you guys."

Anna nodded, walking off.

Ignus made sure his right sleeve was covering his arm as he followed her.

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"He was very brave."

"Yeah. I know."

Rapunzel was trying to cheer up Elsa as they trotted back to Arendelle. They had the horses running for the last two hours, to the point where even Max had needed a break. The other horse, who was carrying both Rapunzel and Elsa, had nearly collapsed.

"I can see why you like him."

"…"

Rapunzel's face fell a bit. Elsa looked stricken with worry.

"I'm sure he's landed just fine. I mean, he must have something like that down by now, right?" Rapunzel smiled hopefully.

Elsa seemed to shrink even more. "He actually only learned how to do it less than a week ago."

"Oh…"

Elsa made an agitated noise. "I'm sorry, I know you're trying to make me feel better but…I just won't be until we get there. I can't even think straight."

Then a small chirping sound was heard. Elsa looked over to see Pascal sitting on Rapunzel's shoulder, turned orange-red, like fire. Then he smiled at Elsa and gave her the thumbs up.

Elsa couldn't help but chuckle. "I know. He'll be all right. It's just…I worry. He's always gotten himself into trouble, often times without even meaning to."

"Well, maybe you finally straightened him out." Eugene finally spoke, looking back at the two.

Elsa brightened a little bit. Rapunzel smiled at Eugene, silently thanking him.

"Anyways, we'll travel a few hours more then make camp. We'll be at Arendelle by tomorrow afternoon." Eugene continued.

Elsa exhaled in resignation. She'd just have to wait it out.

Looking at the horizon, she thought of Ignus and absent-mindedly created an ice rose, similar to the gift he had given her all those months ago.

Miles away, at the same time, Ignus felt a painful pulse in his arm.

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Gritting his teeth, Ignus stood away from Kristoff and Anna for a second and snuck a look at the ice wound.

It was glowing softly. Ignus could tell it had grown, ever so slightly.

Cursing silently, he rolled his sleeve back up. He would need some help with this.

"So it's about some kind of spirit?"

Ignus whirled around, covering his arm. "What?"

Anna looked at him with enormous interest. "The symbol you talked about. It represents a battle between _spirits_?"

"Well…maybe. The hermit wasn't very clear. And it sounded like it was a man versus spirit kind of deal. He didn't explain what happened afterwards."

Anna looked amazed. "Real spirits…wow. And these spirits somehow have a connection with these weird storms? And that the girl is also connected?"

Ignus shrugged. "Who can say. These are legends, not truths. Maybe it's all some coincidence."

He knew that wasn't true. The little girl had convinced him of that. Magic was afoot.

Kristoff looked at Ignus intently. "Fire and Ice storms…do you think your powers are connected?"

Ignus exhaled. "Again, I'm not sure. But…it seems like it, yeah."

Kristoff whistled. "Wow. How'd Elsa take it?"

"She was worried it was her fault, but I convinced her she had control. These storms just happened recently, gradually. Something is causing them. We just don't know what."

Then there was a knocking on the window. Ignus looked at it, his guard raised. Recent events had forced him to remember his old ways of caution and preparedness.

He slowly walked towards the window and opened it quickly, looking out.

There stood his giant buddy Marshmallow. He looked happy.

"Hi."

Ignus sighed in relief. "You scared me, big guy."

Marshmallow looked through the window expectantly, like he was looking for someone.

"Mama."

Ignus looked at him apologetically. "Sorry, bud, she's not back yet."

Marshmallow blinked confusedly. "No. Here."

Now Ignus was confused. "Why do you say that?"

"Feel magic."

"Aaaah, I gotcha. No, that was something different, it wasn't Elsa's magic."

"No. Was Mama's. Same kind made me."

Ignus' eyes widened a bit. He felt a bit of sweat on his head.

_What?_

"You're absolutely sure?"

Marshmallow nodded fervently. "Poosssitive."

His mind raced. He tried to find an explanation.

He found one.

He had no way of proving it, but it was all he had.

He looked out at Arendelle, now covered in deep snow from the storm, tentative heads of citizens poking out from doorways.

He needed to find that girl again. She was the key to all this.

_Whoever she is._

End Chapter 7


	7. Chapter 7 - Growing Pains

**Author's Note – Still boggles my mind that I actually have people who want to read my stories. Thanks a ton, again.**

**Hope you enjoy the chapter.**

**-TheStanfordExperiment**

**Oh snap, I do not own Frozen.**

Chapter 7 – Growing Pains

The man in the helmet watched over the kingdom of Arendelle, hate emanating from his body.

Fenrir rode up next to him. "Looks like we missed the storm."

The man said nothing, seething.

"Ah well. We'll find it next time."

"And how…" The man turned around menacingly. "Are we going to find the next location?! We don't have the map!"

"No…" Fenrir talked like he was explaining something simple to a child. "But we do have some very useful people down there who do. And they'll lead us to it."

The man turned his head back around, angry.

Fenrir leaned back on his horse. "What's the big rush with you anyway? What do you even want with the Hall?"

The man was silent, as usual.

Fenrir sighed like he was bored. "Uuuugh, you are so annoying."

The man swung a fist at Fenrir's head. He dodged.

"Case in point."

"Shut up. Monitor them. Find out what they're going to do next."

Fenrir smiled like a crocodile. "Aye aye."

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Ignus was looking into a mirror.

He didn't usually do it, as he still had trouble adjusting to having a face. His hood had been a part of him for years.

But now he was inspecting the ice in his arm.

It was really quite beautiful, looking at it. It looked like a flower with lines of ice stemming out from it. If only it wasn't hazardous to his health.

Ignus was worried. The ice had grown, pulsing twice since he got it. But now…in the last day there had been no change. No pain, no growth. He had no idea what to make of it.

His mind went back to the little girl. He needed to speak to her. He knew she was linked to it.

Suddenly, he heard a loud trumpeting in the distance.

He smiled. The Queen had arrived.

He ran out of the castle and over the bridge, seeing Elsa ride up on her horse and dismount, smiling at him radiantly.

Ignus walked over and hugged her tightly. "Good to see you, Els."

Elsa squeezed him back. "Did everything go okay?"

"Ish."

Elsa looked at him.

"Ish?"

"Everything-went-okay-ish."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, first off, I landed in a shed."

Elsa stifled a giggle.

"Yeah, yeah, giggle away. Anyways, there was an enormous blizzard raging. I mean RAGING. I tried to…well…talk to something, if there really was a spirit involved. Then I saw a little girl, standing a bit away from me. She was really young, and she had pure white hair. She talked like her voice didn't work well, and I couldn't understand any of what she said. Then she started disappearing, and the last thing I could understand her say was 'wrong one'."

Elsa took all this in. "Wrong one? Does that mean…"

Ignus nodded. "I think that we need to get you to another storm. You need to talk to this girl."

Elsa looked at Ignus. He could see all the questions that flooded her mind.

"Is she…did she have powers like mine?" She sent a small puff of glowing ice into the air from her hand.

Ignus suddenly felt a shooting pain in his arm. He stifled his grunt and passed it off as a cough.

Elsa looked at him quizzically. "You okay?"

"Me? Yeah, yeah! Just…thinking."

He was thinking, all right.

The ice wound was spreading whenever Elsa used her powers.

Ignus couldn't tell her. He knew she'd blame herself, and he did not want that. Besides, she couldn't do anything about it either. If she removed the ice the poison would kill him.

_We need the girl._

"Did you happen to bring the map?"

"I did." Elsa presented it. "The hermit was kind enough to let me have it."

Ignus noticed something. "Did Eugene and Rapunzel return to Corona?"

Elsa nodded. "They wanted to meet back with the King and Queen. Rapunzel said she didn't like being away from them too long. It brought back bad memories."

Ignus got the picture. "Okay. Let's go inside and take a look at it."

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"Elsa!"

Anna ran over and gave her sister a bear-hug.

"Oh, Elsa, I was worried…"

Elsa smiled and looked at her sister. "You know I can handle myself."

Anna beamed. "Of course I do."

Kristoff hugged Elsa as well. "Glad you're okay."

Ignus walked up behind them. "Can I see the map?"

Elsa looked at him, surprised at his hastiness. "Okay. It's here."

She pulled it out of a small satchel and handed it to Ignus. He opened it and spread it out onto the table.

"Okay…" He studied it carefully.

"Looks like the next one's going to hit Seren. We need to get there as soon as possible."

Anna started. "What? But…you only just got back!"

Ignus sighed. "I know. But we need to get to this thing. Before it hits many more kingdoms and freezes them."

Elsa stared at the map. "But what if it's not a winter storm, but a heat wave? We received word that those were occurring as well."

Ignus had tried not to think about that.

"Whichever it is, we need to be there. To do something, be it counter the storm or find the girl."

Kristoff eyed him. "Is the girl that important?"

Ignus looked down, his hand unconsciously rubbing his freezing arm.

"She's all we have to go on right now. That's all."

Elsa nodded, agreeing with him. "We must ride for Seren, then."

"I'm coming too!"

"Anna…"

"Nope! You got to go on a crazy adventure without me already! This time I want to be there!" Anna gave her a fierce look.

Sighing, Elsa consented. "Very well…I assume that means you'll want to come to then, Kristoff?"

Kristoff put a hand on Anna's shoulder. "If it's alright."

Ignus nodded. "Okay. We leave tomorrow then."

And he walked away from the table.

Elsa watched him leave, somewhat surprised by his briskness. This was odd behavior for him.

Anna noticed too. "Is he okay?"

Elsa looked at Anna. "I think so…this whole business must have him on edge."

Kristoff nodded, sympathetically. "Why shouldn't it? All these weird things happening, spirits, unanswered questions. It's probably crawling under his skin."

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Ignus stood out on the balcony in his room. He watched the sun go down.

He always was a bit anxious at sunset. Day had always been safer for him than nighttime. Also, for obvious reasons, the sun was like a source of energy to him.

He scratched at his arm. It didn't itch, really it didn't feel like anything, but he did it nonetheless.

Ignus put a hand on his head. How would he ever explain this to Elsa? She'd never forgive herself if she found out…but wasn't it wrong to hide it? What if he kept hiding it until it was too late?

Ignus shuddered. He didn't really think about dying that often. It used to be that he had no time to think about it, as he was usually actively trying to prevent it from happening.

Now here he was, doing it again, but now he had Elsa in his life.

And that made it waaaay different.

Sighing, Ignus turned and walked towards his room.

He came face-to-face with Elsa.

Ignus nearly yelped as he jumped back a bit.

"Els! You-jeez, you scared me!"

Elsa looked very concerned. Not a good sign.

"Ignus, you're usually so good at noticing when people approach."

He blinked. That was completely true. He had been too busy thinking.

"Uh…slipped up, I guess."

Elsa stepped towards him. She did not look convinced.

"Ignus, what's wrong?"

"Well…" Ignus tried to sound as nonchalant as possible. He couldn't tell her yet…

"I'm thinking about the storms. How they might be connected to us."

Elsa gazed at him like a laser. Then she sighed and nodded. "Me too. It's…chilling to think about how these might be somehow affiliated with us."

Ignus relaxed a bit, successfully dodging the subject of his arm. "Yeah. But we do know that we aren't causing them. We just need to figure out a way to stop them. And we can start in Seren."

Elsa smiled, but then looked away towards the horizon. "It's just…it still scares me to think that my powers may hurt people…that I'm causing pain to those I care about."

Ignus felt like Marshmallow was sitting on his heart.

He swallowed. "We all know you'd never intentionally do that. Accidents happen, Els. I'm not going to say you'll never hurt anyone with your powers ever again, but you will never mean to do it. And it'll never be as bad as it used to be, when you didn't have control."

Elsa sighed. Then she looked at Ignus and smiled. "You always help me with these things, Ignus. Thank you."

Ignus smiled and put a hand on the back of his head. "Well…I do what I can."

Elsa hugged him gently.

She didn't see the guilt and fear in Ignus' eyes as he hugged her back.

End Chapter 7


	8. Chapter 8 - Frostbite

**Author's Note – So sorry about the delay. My schedule is getting busier.**

**I hope this was worth the wait.**

**-TheStanford Experiment**

**Cutting to the chase, I do not own Frozen**

Chapter 8 – Frostbite

It was an extremely tense ride to Seren. For Ignus, at least.

He was spending every moment weighing his options. Elsa had to know about the arm, but he couldn't bear to see her blame herself, which he knew she would.

Besides, what good would it do? She couldn't remove the ice because it'd release the poison.

His only hope was this strange girl. It was a stretch, but it was all he had.

"Ignus!"

Ignus snapped back to the present and looked up. He was sitting behind Elsa on a horse with Anna and Kristoff next to him on another. Kristoff looked at him questioningly.

"You alright, there?"

"Yeah…just thinking."

He was glad Elsa was in front of him so she couldn't see his face.

They had been on the road for quite a long time after resting for the night yesterday. Seren was very close at this point.

Despite Ignus' dearest hopes, Elsa had indeed, unbeknownst to him, realized that something was going on with him. He was slowly distancing himself, which he only did when he had something to hide.

Elsa had hoped it was the storms and his fear that he was connected to it. But now she knew it was more. She simply had no clue what it was.

Then a thought occurred to her.

"Ignus, how is the arm feeling?"

"Hm?"

"Your arm. How is it doing?"

"Oh, it's doing alright. Little chilly, but no problems."

Elsa felt a small tightness in her stomach. She still felt bad about doing that to him, even if it had saved his life. She wished there had been a way that didn't involve permanently icing his veins.

She was about to say more when she heard Anna say, "Whoa!"

She turned and looked at the cause of Anna's surprise.

It was like déjà vu.

A massive winter storm had covered Seren in a snowy whirlwind. It looked exactly like the one Elsa had caused in Arendelle. She felt a pang of guilt.

Kristoff whistled. "Wow…yeah. I'm convinced."

Ignus hopped off the horse. "We need to get down there and find the girl. Maybe Elsa can get her to stop the storms."

Elsa jumped down too, inspecting Ignus' face. He looked relieved, for some reason.

"Okay. Anna, Kristoff, we'll be right back."

"Whoa, whoa!" Anna said, indignantly. "You're not going by yourselves!"

"Anna, don't worry. Ignus and I can handle cold weather. But you and Kristoff could get hurt in all that."

Anna looked down. "I don't like being left behind…"

Ignus walked over to her and put a hand on her head. "You're not, pigtails. That's why you came this far with us. We want you here. But we don't want you getting hurt."

Anna looked up at Ignus, and then gave him a weak smile. "After all this we are ALL going on a family trip, okay? And then you won't be able to shoo me away!"

"Deal." Ignus said, smiling. He walked over to Elsa, smiling at how Anna used the word "family".

Elsa took his hand and created a platform of ice that extended down into the city below. Ignus hopped aboard, and together they slid down it, towards the raging storm.

Elsa didn't see that Ignus had a pained expression on his face, and he was clutching his arm.

Unbeknownst to them, two others who had followed them had entered the village as well.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Elsa landed in the town, snow whipping around her.

Truth be told, she felt quite at home. While this was a disastrous blizzard for some, it was merely a thrill for her, like running through the rain.

Ignus didn't seem to enjoy it as much. He shivered a bit and followed her, rubbing his arm.

"Are you alright?"

"Me? Yeah!" Ignus answered, a bit too readily.

Elsa figured that the sooner she found this "girl" and stopped the storm, the more appreciative Ignus would be. Blizzards obviously didn't agree with him too much.

She raised her arms and let them flop. "Well, what do I do?"

"I, uh….I'm not quite sure!" Ignus had to raise his voice over the blizzard. "I just kind of ran into her! I don't know…do you feel anything?"

"What do you mean 'feel'?"

"I don't know, just…anything! Anything seem off to you?"

Elsa, feeling lost, stood there a moment and tried to see if there was anything out of the ordinary. She could only hear the sound of a blizzard, windows clattering from the wind, children laughing…

She stopped. Children do not laugh in a blizzard.

"This way!" Elsa yelled, walking towards the sound. Ignus followed her.

For a while, Ignus ran behind her, making sure she didn't trip over the accumulating snow, all the while trying not to think about how much that ice ramp must have caused the ice in his arm to grow.

Ignus lit his good arm on fire, trying to let the heat warm his body, but the wind did not let it do so easily.

"Are we getting closer?" He yelled to Elsa.

"I think…yes! Up here!" She pointed at the roof. Ignus ran up next to her and looked up. He heard a garbled sound.

"Hang on!" Elsa said to him.

"Why-wait! Elsa, don't-!"

Too late. Elsa stomped her foot and created a pillar of ice beneath their feet that lifted them up to the rooftop.

Elsa stepped off of it and turned back to Ignus, smiling.

Her smile promptly crashed and burned when she saw the pain on his face.

"Ignus! What's wrong?!"

Ignus couldn't hide it. The pain had been too great to ignore. He tried to assure Elsa that he was fine, but it backfired, and he made a pained grunt instead.

She ran up to him. "What is it?!"

Ignus, finally getting ahold of himself, said "Nothing. Is the girl up here?"

Elsa looked appalled.

"Ignus! What's wrong with you?!"

He stood up and tried to walk away. "Is she up here?"

"Ignus!"

"Is she?!"

"IGNUS! I am not saying another word until you tell me _this instant_ what is happening to you!"

Elsa's eyes shook with frustration and hurt as she glared at him, not moving from the spot. Angry tears were forming.

Ignus didn't look at her. He didn't want to do this, not when the girl was _so close_…

But Elsa would not do anything else until he told her the truth. And he knew it.

He took a deep breath.

Then Elsa gasped in fear.

Ignus knew what that gasp meant.

_Danger. Behind you._

Ignus whirled around, realizing in an instant that a mace was coming full speed towards him.

On pure instinct, he ducked. The mace barely grazed his head.

He jumped back and drew his sword. His eyes were alight, narrowed at the man who attacked him.

He was wearing a black, rusted helmet and simple armor. He had a cloak on, which billowed around him in the wind.

"Ignus! That's one of the men that attacked you!" Elsa said.

Ignus' eyes narrowed more, glaring at the man.

_So you're the one who gave me this little headache of an injury, _he thought.

Ignus raised his blade. "I'm in the middle of something here."

The man said nothing.

Ignus was really getting sick of people not talking when they tried to kill him.

"Sorry, but I'm just not in the mood for going easy."

And Ignus shot a fireball at him, hitting him square in the chest.

The man flew back, landing hard. He got up, breathing furiously, and pulled out a knife, hurling it at Ignus.

Ignus almost lazily caught it by the hilt and threw it to the ground. Whoever this was, he was no great warrior.

Ignus ran forward and swung his sword at him. The man blocked it with his mace and countered. Ignus dodged out of the way and aimed a kick at him, which the man caught with his arm, bringing his mace above him, aiming to break Ignus' kneecap.

Ignus quickly jumped and used his free leg to kick the man in his chest, sending him stumbling back, releasing his leg. The man got his footing and prepared another attack, but Ignus was already there, bringing his fist crashing into the man's ribcage.

The man grunted, but did not move. He instead headbutted Ignus, which, with the helmet on, was quite painful.

Ignus staggered back, putting a hand on his face, which had a big bruise on it now. He glared at the man. He wasn't a talented fighter, but he was tenacious, and sometimes that's all you needed in a battle.

_Unfortunately, this isn't one of those times. _

Ignus readied another attack when he heard the sound of a blade swinging through the air behind him.

Reacting instantly, his blade caught another one at his back, stopping it from puncturing his lung. Looking back, he saw a feral-looking man with silver hair and a goatee smiling. He had a wicked-looking curved blade in one hand and a dagger in the other.

The man jumped back and raised his weapons.

Ignus, now completely irritated, said, "Do I at least get _your _name?!"

The man laughed, oddly. "I know, right? It's so annoying what he does…very secretive, my partner is."

"Well, I know secrecy. It doesn't get you too far."

"True, true." The man said, grinning. Ignus stayed on guard. This guy was acting very carefree…

"I'm Fenrir. Happy?" The man named Fenrir said, raising his eyebrows.

Ignus glared. "Not really. That poison in me is causing me some problems." He flexed his bad arm.

"Ooo, right. Sorry about that. Usually don't do stuff as sneaky as poison, but you needed to be out of the picture."

"Why?" Ignus asked, dangerously.

Fenrir smirked. "You're powerful."

"I know."

"So is she." Fenrir said, nodding at something behind Ignus.

Ignus looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Elsa shoot a ball of ice at the man in the helmet, who dodged it and ran beside Fenrir, whirling his mace around angrily.

Ignus immediately felt the now-familiar pain in his arm, but now he could feel it in his shoulder and hands. She couldn't fight with him…

"Elsa! Leave them to me! Find the girl!" He didn't turn and look at her. He knew what her response would be…

"I don't think so, Ignus!"

Ignus rolled his eyes. Stubborn as ever. He loved her for it.

_Stop it! Focus!_

He closed his eyes, knowing how much this would infuriate her. "Sorry, Els."

And he stomped his foot. Fire rose up furiously in a circle around him and the two strangers, isolating Elsa from him.

He grit his teeth, lighting his blade on fire. He didn't know which was worse, what he had to fight inside the circle, or what was waiting to greet him outside of it.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Elsa's jaw dropped.

_He._

_Did._

_Not._

She sent ice at the flames, trying to choke them out, but they were too strong. He had put some serious magic into them.

Elsa didn't know which she felt more, hurt, anger or fear.

She was about to call out to Ignus when she heard the voice.

"Hi!"

Whirling around, she saw a small girl standing on the roof opposite her. She had stark-white hair and shiny gray eyes.

Elsa exhaled in disbelief. _Wow. How about that?_

Elsa created a walkway and ran over to the girl, who looked positively joyful.

"Um…hello? Who are you?"

The girl was smiling happily.

"I finally found you! I was searching a reeeally long time, and there were all these places I had to try and get to, and there was the guy that I thought was you but he wasn't and-"

Elsa suddenly remembered Ignus' predicament.

"Wait! Stop! I mean…" she hesitated. "I'm sorry to cut you off, but I need your help. Ignus is in that ring of fire fighting two people and I-"

"Ignus? The fire guy?" The girl's eyes widened. "Ooh! Are you and he…"

She gave Elsa a look.

"Um…yes? Romantically? Yes."

The girl squealed. "Oh, that's so cool! I never thought that would happen!"

Elsa was getting extremely confused, but she focused on Ignus.

"Can you get rid of those flames?"

"Yes! But…I need help first."

Elsa looked at the girl in desperation. "Okay! What do you need help with?"

"I need to pull myself together."

Elsa nearly laughed. This was too much.

"Sweetie, you look _just fine _to me, but I really need you to-"

"No, not like that!" The girl now looked a little scared. "I need to bring myself in! All this!" She gestured around at the storm.

"What?"

"I need a…a…um…a focus point! That's it! I need one of those! That's you!" She pointed at Elsa.

"M-me? What do you mean?"

"I'm spread out too much! Like a cloud! You need to concentrate me into a cute little raindrop!" The girl beamed.

Elsa's brained nearly threw it's hands up in resignation.

"Can you create a big thing of magic for me?" The girl asked. "If you create a thing of magic I can focus in on it and stop the storm!" She looked serious now.

Elsa looked at the girl in defeat.

"So…if I create a magic…point for you, the storm will stop?"

"Yup!"

"And you'll be able to blow out the circle of fire?"

"Should be, yeah!"

Elsa took a breath.

"Okay…"

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

This Fenrir guy…he was the real deal.

Ignus had come close to death more times than he could recall, dodging Fenrir's wicked blades that danced maliciously through the air. Fenrir's movements were wild but controlled, strong but fluid. He was something else.

It didn't help that he also had to worry about the guy in the helmet swinging the mace.

Ignus blocked the mace while shooting fire at Fenrir, who ducked away from it skillfully. He then ran at Ignus, driving both blades towards his heart.

Ignus rolled away hastily, getting to his feet, only to have the man in the helmet grab him from behind, holding his arms and restraining Ignus.

Ignus cursed and lit his hands, but the man was as tenacious as ever, refusing to let go.

Fenrir ran at Ignus, aiming the dagger at his throat.

Ignus, out of options, used his new trick.

He burst into flames, sending the man in the helmet flying back, onto the ground, out cold from the blast. Fenrir stopped his charge, realizing that Ignus was no longer there.

Too late, he heard a bang behind him, and before he could react, Ignus had a hand on his throat and a sword raised at his face.

Fenrir chuckled. "Nice one."

"Thanks. Now tell me why you want to kill me."

"Well…really it's nothing PERSONAL…it's just that you guys are gonna be a problem once the big shots come back."

"Big shots? What does that mean?"

"Sorry, he wouldn't want me to say."

"Well, I do. And I'm holding a big, fiery sword that about a foot from giving you the worst sunburn you've ever felt. So how about you-"

The rest of Ignus words were lost in the pained yell he made.

He dropped Fenrir, who promptly gathered up the man in the helmet and backed away. Ignus' flames dropped, and the two strangers hightailed it away.

Ignus couldn't watch them. He couldn't think. He couldn't breathe. The pain in his arm was more than he could bear. He felt like he was being torn apart.

The only thing he could see was Elsa, who was holding her hands out, creating a massive ball of ice magic on the roof over.

_Els…no…_

Ignus could feel the ice in his veins moving through him, eating away at him, bit by bit, with every second that Elsa used her magic.

Finally, the ball exploded into a burst of blue light.

The storm disappeared instantly. The clouds vanished. The wind ceased. Snow stopped falling.

And Ignus collapsed to his knees.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

"YAAAAAY!"

The girl was ecstatic. She ran around, jumping and hollering like the child she was…or appeared to be anyway.

"I feel so great! Do you have any idea how annoying it is to be…to be running around in a cloud of snow all the time and not being a person?!"

Her sentence became a train wreck as her excitement overtook her.

Elsa was trying to get her attention.

"Yes, yes, you're welcome, but please…" She gestured without looking to where Ignus was. "The flames?"

"What? Oh right right right!" She looked to where Elsa was pointing, but her face dropped in confusion.

"What flames?"

Elsa turned around. She saw that the flames were gone, and that a figure was on his knees on the rooftop, alone.

He had black hair with red accents at the ends.

_Ignus._

She ran back across the bridge, absolutely torn. She was as relieved as she was furious at Ignus' act.

"Ignus! Don't ever, EVER do that again! I could've helped! You know that! Why would you-"

"Sorry, Els."

He looked straight ahead, away from Elsa. "I'm really…really sorry."

"Ignus, sorry's just not enough! Why would you do that?" Elsa felt betrayed. They had always been a team. Why did that change?

The girl ran up next to Elsa. She looked at Ignus. Her face fell into sadness.

"Oh…oh no…"

Elsa looked from the girl to Ignus.

Panic overtook her.

She ran over to him, kneeling beside him. "Ignus, what happened? Where are they? Did they hurt you…?"

Ignus looked down, away from her eyes.

Elsa felt her heart break a little.

"Ignus…_look at me._" Her voice broke as she spoke shakily.

Ignus was completely still.

The he looked up at Elsa, slowly revealing his whole face.

Elsa's heart stopped.

The right side of his face was almost entirely iced over. Ice crawled up from his shoulder over his ear and neck, stretching over his eye, which had turned an icy silver color.

"Oh-oh my…Ignus…"

Ignus suddenly tore his right sleeve at the shoulder, shocking Elsa. He then let it slip off.

Elsa let out a small squeak of horror.

His entire arm was ice. From his fingers to the ice on his face, it was as if it was a living ice sculpture.

The ice was crystallized, uneven and jagged. Yet it gleamed in the sunlight. It gleamed like…

Elsa's entire world came crashing around her ears.

_My magic…_

She looked at the small wound where the arrow had his Ignus.

It was pulsing gently, blue light emitting softly from it.

Tears spilled down Elsa's face.

_No…not again…not him…_

Ignus' eyes were locked onto hers. She saw many things in them. Guilt, remorse, compassion, kindness.

But not blame. The one thing she deserved.

"Ignus…no…no…" She couldn't continue, and simply sat there, shaking with sorrow and guilt.

Then she felt a hand on her face.

"Elsa…" Ignus' voice was exceedingly gentle. "I…I shouldn't have kept this from you…I'm sorry-"

"_Don't!" _Elsa choked out, hysterically. "Don't apologize! I…I did this to you…? I…"

She stared at the ground, her eyes wide with horror and filled t the brim with tears.

"I…*sniff*…I haven't changed at all…I still have no control…" Ice had begun to freeze the ground around her, responding to her extreme emotions.

"No, you do, Els. This…this is different than-"

"It's not!" She sobbed. "I've frozen you! I…I can't…"

She stopped as Ignus put his arms around her. Gasping, she pushed against him.

"No! Stop! I'll…I'll only freeze you more!"

Ignus did not let go.

"Ignus!" She pushed against his chest, helplessly. "You'll freeze solid! Let go!"

"I don't care."

"What?!"

"I'm staying here, where I belong. Next to you."

Elsa shook her head, slowly, feeling more pain then she thought she could bear.

"I won't let that happen! I won't hurt you anymore!"

"Then let me hold you."

"Wh-what?"

"Don't hurt me. Let me hold you."

Elsa's eyes widened again. Then she closed them as she put her head against Ignus' frozen shoulder and cried.

Ignus held her, not feeling an inch of blame for her in his body. His arm was now completely numb, but he didn't care. He couldn't bear the thought of letting Elsa cry by herself. She had done too much of that in her life.

Looking up momentarily with his multicolored eyes, he saw the little girl watching them. Her mouth was quivering and her eyes were big and shiny with tears.

Ignus' hopes went out, like the flames in his arm had.

"You can't fix this, can you?"

The little girl shook her head, despondently.

Ignus said nothing. He simply held Elsa closer to him as his body shook from her sobs.

End Chapter 8


	9. Chapter 9 - A Candle To Guide Me

**Author's Note - DAAAAA**

**DADADAAAAAA**

DADADAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

***ahem***

**Thank you all so much for your patience. I've been extremely busy, what with studying and all. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Made it a bit longer to compensate.**

**- TheStanfordExperiment**

**Somebody told me I do not own Frozen.**

Chapter 9 – A Candle to Guide Me

The townsfolk of Seren had slowly begun to come out of their homes.

Anna and Kristoff walked through the crowd of people who were staring at the sky, trying to find any trace of the storm that had, until about five minutes ago, been pounding them with snow.

"Brings back memories, huh?" Kristoff said to Anna.

"You said it. But it looks like they did it!" Anna said, proudly.

"Which leaves the question of where they are…"

"They'll turn up. They're probably looking for us right now."

They continued walking through the streets for a while. Then Kristoff noticed a figure on a rooftop next to them.

It was a little girl with snow-white hair.

Kristoff tapped Anna's shoulder. "Hey…didn't Ignus say he was looking for a little girl with white hair?"

Anna followed his eyes. She saw the girl. Her face jumped in surprise.

"Oh! That's gotta be her! C'mon, c'mon!" She scurried towards the building and tried to climb up the side.

"Whoa, whoa, how about we take the stairs?" Kristoff said, pulling her down.

Anna gave him a look. "The mountain climber wants to take the stairs?"

"This isn't a mountain."

Rolling her eyes, Anna followed him inside and up the stairs.

They walked through the roof access and stepped out onto the roof.

Right away Anna could tell something was horribly wrong.

On their left, Elsa and Ignus were huddled together, Ignus holding Elsa gently as she shook. The little girl they had seen earlier was silently crying.

Kristoff's eyes widened in concern. "Elsa? Ig?"

Ignus didn't look up, but he said, "Hi, guys."

Anna walked forward quickly. "What's going on? What is it? Elsa?"

Elsa did not respond, but only hugged Ignus closer to her, quietly, yet unmistakably, crying.

"What happened? Elsa…please, what's wrong?"

Again, Elsa remained quiet.

Ignus then looked up at Anna, revealing his face.

Anna tried to cover her gasp, but failed. The sight of half of Ignus' face frozen over was too much for her.

Kristoff was in shock as well. "Holy…Ig, what happened?"

Ignus looked pained, like he was full of guilt. His un-matching eyes then looked to his arm as he lifted it.

Anna's hands flew to her mouth. Successfully covering the sharp intake of breath. Ignus' entire arm was ice, just like hers had been when Elsa froze her.

_Elsa…oh no…_

"It wasn't her fault." Ignus said, reading Anna's expression. "If she hadn't done it, the poison would have killed me."

"But...but she can just unfreeze you right?"

Ignus shook his head.

"But…true love! You can just kiss her, right? That'll do it, right?"

Again, Ignus shook his head. "Not this time. This is something else."

"Then heat it with your body! Melt the ice!"

"That'd release the poison."

"Then-"

"Anna." Kristoff interrupted. Anna looked back at him helplessly.

"What about her?" Kristoff suggested, pointing towards the small girl. "I mean…sorry, you. You're magical, aren't you? Can you help him?"

The girl looked ashamed as she shook her head.

"There has to be _something!_" Anna exclaimed in desperation. "We can't just accept that you're going to freeze over!"

Elsa gave a sharp sob and buried her head into Ignus' shoulder. Anna shrunk back, realizing he hadn't been very smart with her wording.

"Well…"

All heads turned towards the little girl.

"I can't do anything…but…I have a friend."

Anna lit up immediately. "Who? Can he help?"

"He's my best friend, Fraxy. He's way older than me and knows a lot."

Ignus then looked up at the girl. "Who are you?"

The girl looked at him silently.

"Really. We need to know." Ignus pressed.

She gave a small smile.

"I'm Isen. I'm a spirit."

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

"Wake up."

Nothing.

"C'mon, wake uuuuup."

Still nothing.

"RISE AND SHINE, CUPCAKE."

Success. The man in the helmet rocketed to his feet and drew his mace at Fenrir, who held his arms up in surrender.

"Whoa, whoa, easy there, ace. It's me, your old pal?" Fenrir gave him a toothy grin.

The man, frustrated, lowered his mace. "Where are we? What happened?"

"We are in hiding. And you were knocked out by cinder-shoes back there when he exploded. I dragged you outta there."

"Also, they freed Isen."

The man said nothing, surprisingly. Then he simply exhaled loudly.

"I guess there's no point in explaining to you how completely idiotic you are to allow that to happen."

"Hey, you got laid out first, tough guy."

"Moving on…" The man turned away. "If they freed her, we can't let them reach Fraxinus. Or, more accurately, we can't let the fire idiot get there first.

"Oh, I don't think we'll have to worry about him for long." Fenrir smiled.

The man looked at him. "Explain."

"Let's just say his icy girlfriend gave him the cold shoulder."

"What?"

"He's freezing solid. And he's freezing fast." He grinned maniacally.

He couldn't tell for sure, but Fenrir guessed that the man in the helmet was smiling.

"Now let's go. We need to get to Frax in time."

"How do you know where he is?" The man asked, skeptically.

Fenrir once again gave him his trademark grin. "I have a hunch."

And he walked off.

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"So…spirits _are _real…"

Ignus' mind was reeling. It seemed almost absurd, but then again, how could he doubt it after all he had seen?

"Well…there's only two of us." Isen said. "Fraxy and me. He's the one causing all the drought and heat waves."

"Why are they happening at all?" Kristoff said, eyeing her suspiciously.

"I...I'm not really sure." Isen answered unhappily. "I sort of lost some of my memory…"

"You're _kidding_."

"No. But what I remember is that Fraxy and I fought someone a really long time ago. Like, thousands of years ago!"

Ignus' ears perked. "The battle between the spirits and the man who wanted their power…"

"Yeah, that's it! I don't remember much about it…but I do remember that Fraxy and I almost died. We had to use aaaaall our energy and blast the guy to pieces. But it made us explode too! We were scattered across the world, bits of us everywhere. I remember just floating…on and on and on, for a long long time. And then I saw him!" She pointed at Ignus.

Ignus blinked. "Why were you so fuzzy and hard to hear when I met you?"

Isen shrugged helplessly.

"Anyway, then the Queen helped me come together! And here I am." Isen smiled.

Anna breathed, "Wow. That's…incredible!"

"But what about this 'Fraxy'?"

Elsa had spoken for the first time since Anna arrived on the roof. She was still holding Ignus close.

She then turned and looked at Isen, her eyes red. "Can he help Ignus? Can he help with the ice?"

Isen gulped. "I'm not sure…Fraxy's really smart…he may know what to do…"

"How do we find him?"

Isen shrugged. "How did you find me?"

"Your storms are appearing in the form of an ancient symbol, one that represents your big battle." Anna explained, to the general surprise of everyone.

Isen widened her eyes. "Wow. Sounds awesome!"

"We have a map. We can plot out the next place that's gonna be hit." Ignus said.

Isen nodded. "Okay. We should get there quickly."

"What tipped you off?" Ignus asked, sarcastically.

"No, not you…I'm worried about the two guys you were fighting."

Ignus couldn't believe he forgot about them.

"Do you have any idea who they are?"

"No, really I don't. But they know about me. They might also know about Fraxy."

Ignus nodded. He didn't know who they were or what they wanted, but he knew he didn't want them getting there first. He shuddered as he thought about what that guy Fenrir might have planned, and his weird helmeted partner.

"Then we need to leave as soon as possible." Ignus said, getting to his feet.

"Can you walk okay?" Kristoff asked him.

"Last time I checked, it was my arm that was frozen, not my legs." Ignus answered, shortly.

"Right…sorry." Kristoff said sheepishly. He noticed Ignus' temper flare.

"Elsa…" Anna walked over to her and knelt down. "Do you still have the map? Can we see it?"

Elsa was very still, still holding Ignus. Then she slowly withdrew and took out the map the hermit had given them.

Ignus opened it, holding Elsa's hand. "It's…"

He froze. Not literally.

"Corona. Corona is next."

All heads turned.

"Oh no…" Elsa whispered.

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It was hard to talk on the way to Corona. The sound of the horses was too loud.

Anna, Kristoff, Elsa and Ignus raced towards Corona as quickly as possible, the landscape passing by in a blur.

Just like Elsa's thoughts.

She leaned against Ignus on the horse. She could feel his shoulder and how chilling it was.

Elsa didn't know why she couldn't let go of Ignus. She was the cause of his ailment. But she couldn't bring herself to even move away from him.

Somewhere deep down, she hoped that maybe if she stayed close to him the magic in his body would decide to come home and leave him alone.

_Yeah right. And then the poison would just evaporate in his veins._

She felt tears again. She really didn't want to cry anymore. It didn't help. But her body simply refused to listen, responding naturally to the crushing guilt she felt.

She thought back to the awful moment when she saw Anna frozen solid, believing her to be the final result of her inability to control her powers. She had felt like every nerve in her body had died, feeling nothing but a hollow despondency as she hugged her sister.

It had been the worst experience in her life.

And now it was happening to Ignus. The man she loved.

Frost crept out of her hands as she squeezed her eyes shut, clutching Ignus tightly, like he would stay next to her if she simply didn't let him go.

"Els."

She felt a cold hand on hers.

"Is there anything I can say to convince you that this wasn't your fault?"

Ignus' voice was as warm as ever, like there wasn't a single inch of frost in his body.

Elsa couldn't bring herself to respond.

"Do you think you deserve the blame?"

Again, Elsa was quiet. Then…

"Yes." She whispered.

Ignus was silent.

"Well…I'm sorry then."

Elsa looked at the back of his head, confused. "What do you mean?"

"I'm sorry because," He turned and looked at her with his bi-colored eyes, "I don't blame you one bit."

And he looked away again.

Elsa laid her head against Ignus' back.

"I love you." She said under her breath.

"Please don't die…"

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

"Is there anyone else who needs ice?"

"It's more of a question of who _doesn't_…we don't have enough for everyone!"

Eugene turned away in frustration, wiping the sweat from his face. "Then split what's left among the people evenly. We'll survive without it, even if we're sweating like pigs."

"Sir, technically pigs don't sweat-"

Eugene gave the guard a look.

"…Right. Understood, sir."

And he hot-footed it away.

Eugene sighed and looked around at Corona. The town looked like it was melting. The heat was unbearable. Sweat poured from faces like faucets. Ice and water were rapidly evaporating, and what little was left was warm and unsatisfying.

The townsfolk and soldiers had kept trying to come up with solutions, but Eugene knew there was only one that would truly rectify the problem.

And her name was Elsa.

"Eugene!"

Rapunzel had run up to him. She was drenched in sweat as well.

"Is there anything else we can do?"

"I've sent word to Arendelle. Hopefully her majesty will be able to come in time to help us."

"But until then?"

"Until then…" Eugene looked around helplessly. "There's not much. The ice supply is running low, people are drowning in sweat, and this sunlight is really not good for my skin."

Rapunzel sighed exasperatedly. Then her face fell into slight fear.

Eugene noticed immediately. "What's wrong?"

"It's…Dad."

"Ah."

King Thomas had jumped to the worst conclusion when the drought arrived. He blamed Ignus.

"Did you tell him about the hermit? What he told us?"

"Yes, but Dad doesn't believe it's true. He thinks that someone who controls fire is more likely to cause a drought than an old tale." She looked down, ashamed.

"It's not his fault. This is killing him, seeing Corona like this. He wants to fix it as soon as possible. Failing that, he wants to find any sort of explanation. And a walking flame…"

"Yeah…"

They were interrupted by a loud whinny.

Two horses ran into town. Rapunzel's eyes widened as she saw Ignus and Elsa riding atop one of them.

"Ignus! Elsa!"

Eugene whirled around. "Oh, about time!" He said with wild relief, despite having just said that he sent a letter less than an hour ago.

Ignus hopped down from the horse. He didn't look Rapunzel in the eyes. "I need to get to the highest point in Corona. I can stop this."

Rapunzel, taken aback by his briskness, stuttered. "U-um…the castle is the highest point we have, but – wait, Ignus!"

He had walked off.

"Ignus, wait! My father – "

"Can wait. This is urgent."

"No, no! He thinks that-"

"Wha…Ignus, _what happened?_"

Eugene had a look of horror on his face. Ignus turned and looked at him, straight in the face.

Rapunzel gasped as she saw his injury. "Oh…oh, _Ignus…_"

"Something's happening. I don't know what, and I don't know how, but it's not Elsa's fault. I need to stop this storm."

And he burst into flames, teleporting away.

"NO, WAIT!" Rapunzel called out helplessly after him.

Elsa ran up. She looked awful. Rapunzel's heart squeezed in sadness for her.

"What's wrong? What did you need to say to him?!"

"It's…It's my dad! He thinks Ignus caused this! He's-he's gonna attack him if he sees him!"

Elsa paled.

"We need to get to the castle."

And she ran off. Rapunzel followed.

Eugene was left with the three people on the other horse.

"Uh…hi. Prince Eugene."

"Kristoff." The mountain man said.

"Anna." The cute redhead sitting beside him said.

"Isen!" The little girl said in a sing-song voice.

"…Huh. Okey dokey, then. Let's go save Corona with magic." Eugene rolled his eyes in amazement and ran off.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Ignus stepped out of the could of smoke. He was getting used to his trick.

He was standing in front of the castle of Corona. He looked at the very top, where the spire stood proud above the city.

_Bingo_.

He took a step forward. Then he stopped.

About fifty guards had run out of the palace with weapons raised. They formed a circle around Ignus, all pointing weapons directly at him.

Ignus felt a familiar sense of rage in his gut. _I do NOT need this…_

More guards came out of the castle. Behind them, the monarch himself, King Thomas walked out, in full armor, a sword and shield glimmering in his hands.

He looked Ignus right in the eyes. They were full of pain and anger.

"Ignus. You assured me this would not happen."

"I said I didn't cause this. I never said I could prevent it from happening. But I can stop it."

Thomas narrowed his eyes in determination. "How am I to trust you now? When the very magic you possess has left my kingdom in suffering!"

"This…wasn't…ME." Ignus said through clenched teeth. "And I really would rather not do this, I'm kind of DYING." He held up his frozen arm.

The King's face was surprised. But it did not yield.

"You will surrender. Or you will be stopped. Either way, this storm will end. I will protect this Kingdom." The King's voice was as fiery as Ignus' eyes.

Ignus could talk this out. He could stop the King. He had a chance to talk him down from this.

But he didn't care. Something was happening, warping in his mind. He was burning from head to toe. Even the parts of him that were frozen felt like they were bursting with energy.

His mind was ablaze with anger. He didn't care why.

"Move. Now." Ignus said quietly. His final warning.

The King was silent.

Then he raised his sword.

The soldiers ran forward in a rush. Yelling, they charged towards Ignus.

They probably shouldn't have done it so quickly.

They might have had a chance to slow down and turn away once they had seen Ignus' figure glow with fire.

Fire exploded outwards from Ignus. It blew back the soldiers like tin cans.

Ignus' eyes were blazing uncontrollably. His hair was ablaze. His uninjured hand was shooting fire.

The King felt his courage slip away. He was looking at a monster.

In a rage, Ignus flew forward, sinking his fist into a guard's face, knocking him back about ten feet. He moved to the next one like a terrible streak, kicking his legs out form under him and elbowing him in the chest, slamming him to the ground.

He shot forward and kicked another guard. He threw another to the ground. He took out five with an explosion of flames.

Ignus' mind was burning, tearing itself apart. He didn't know why.

_Stupid._

_Idiot._

_King._

_Thinks it's my fault…_

He drove his elbow into the jaw of another soldier.

_Thinks it's ELSA's fault…_

He drop kicked another. Flames suddenly exploded out of Ignus' face and body, engulfing him.

"GRRAAAH!" Ignus screamed and fell to the ground, clutching his head in a wild haze.

"_What's…HAPPENING!?" _Ignus howled. Everything was burning.

_Fire._

_Burn._

_Torchblazeburnsunheatdestroyexplodecombust._

Through eyes that could hardly see, Ignus looked up at the top of the castle.

_The spire._

_Spirit._

_Firedestroyconfusedwhywhywhyburnwhichone._

"SHUT UP!" Ignus shouted to his mind.

He had to reach it. Stop whatever was happening.

He burst into flames and rocketed upwards in a ball of fire, towards the top of the castle, flame pouring from his body.

He didn't know if they would ever stop now.

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When Elsa reached the front gates of the castle, she expected a tense situation, and was ready to defend Ignus from the King's blame.

But she did not expect the destruction that she beheld.

Soldiers were laid out left and right, clutching parts of their bodies in pain, moaning softly. There were scorch marks on the ground everywhere.

Elsa was in shock.

"Dad!" Rapunzel ran past Elsa and up to her father, who was leaning against the wall of the castle, unharmed, but shaken.

"Dad, what happened?" Rapunzel said, terrified.

The king took shaky breaths. Then he said, "The boy. Ignus. Or…whatever that thing was."

"What do you mean, that _thing_?!" Elsa said in a shaky voice.

The king gave her a furious look. "He nearly killed us all."

"That's only because you tried to kill him first!" Elsa shot back angrily.

"He brought this drought to my Kingdom! When you _and _him assured me you wouldn't!" The King exclaimed.

"He DIDN'T! The spirit of fire did!"

"I can't put my hopes in fairy tales when my people suffer!"

"Then don't!" Elsa shouted, her face red. "Look with your eyes at her!"

She pointed at the just-arrived Isen.

Isen, a bit nervous, waved at the King as she let ice fall from her hand. "Hi."

The King's eyes widened in shock. He looked at Elsa.

"But…but she…"

"Yes. She's the spirit of ice, the one who caused the ice storms. I helped her and the storms stopped. Ignus came here to do the same. And you tried to murder him." Elsa said icily.

The King looked down. He moaned softly in shame.

"Dad…" Rapunzel tried to rouse him. "Where is Ignus?"

The King did not raise his head. "He burst into flames…after that I did not see him."

Elsa was worried. "He could be anywhere!"

"No, he's right there!" Kristoff exclaimed, pointing at the castle's spire. "Look!"

Elsa followed his arm. Sure enough, she saw a figure standing at the top of the spire with black hair and an icy arm.

She heard a yell, and an enormous ball of fire erupted into the sky. Even at her distance, Elsa could feel it's heat upon her skin.

In a matter of seconds, the ball disappeared. With it, the heat subsided almost instantly. A refreshing wind blew through the Kingdom, chasing out the heat and humidity. Anna, Kristoff and Eugene all took deep breaths, loving the refreshing air.

Elsa kept her eyes on Ignus.

_He did it._

Then he burst into flames again and fell from the spire, down to the ground.

He didn't slow down.

Elsa's heart skipped a beat.

Without thinking, she created a ramp of ice with a large pile of snow at the bottom. Ignus slid down it, charging into the pile of snow with a noise that sounded like "flomf".

Elsa ran up to him, digging through the snow. She pulled Ignus out of it, seeing that he was unharmed.

She almost breathed a sigh of relief. Then she saw the ice creep along his face.

She thought she'd freeze solid herself. Seeing it happen…it was too much.

She choked back tears and held his head in her hands. It was red-hot. She ignored the pain, cradling his head.

"I'm sorry, Ignus…"

"Don't be."

Elsa whirled around.

An elderly man stood before her. He had short, graying hair with a full beard. His skin was tough and callused with several shiny burn marks on it. One of his eyes was shut tight, a scar running over it. He wore tattered clothes, dusty and torn.

Elsa felt she didn't need to ask, but she did anyway.

"Are…are you...?"

"Yeah. I'm Fraxinus."

He walked over to Ignus and knelt down, putting a hand on his head. Then he turned Ignus' face to look at him. He picked up his arm and examined it.

Elsa could hardly breath with anticipation.

"I need time. I don't know if I can help yet. But we need to get him stable first."

"Stable…? You mean he's sick?"

"No, he's perfectly healthy, he just has a harmless skin condition that turns you to ice and makes you crazy." He said in a bitterly sarcastic voice.

Elsa was too surprised to be offended.

"Follow me." Fraxinus gathered up Ignus and slung him over his shoulder. "He'll need to be cooled. Looks like your ice will be able to help him after all. How ironic." He turned and walked off.

Elsa, completely overwhelmed, could only follow after him in silence.

End Chapter 9


	10. Chapter 10 - Truth

**Author's Note – Responding!**

**To!**

**Some!**

**Reeeeeeeeeeeeviews!**

**Heisenberg**** – Holy crap, please don't kill me.**

**Producciones Escudo**** – Dude…at this point I just interpret one of your reviews that's all caps as a good one and one that isn't as a bad one. I tried. Just couldn't understand.**

**Fire Wolf**** – Doing my best. Sorry if it takes long.**

**Maronn**** – I'm sorry I made you cry. *Hands tissue***

**LovelySheree**** – Didn't know I put a pun in chapter nine…**

**Thatirishblond**** – Wow. +1 Self esteem for me. Thanks!**

**Car Door**** – Uhhh...okay. I'll se what I can do there, good buddy.**

Chapter 10 – Truth

Elsa timidly followed the old man back towards the castle as he carried the lifeless Ignus. She didn't quite know what to say.

"Um…so you're the fire spirit?"

"Maybe we could chat after I put down the dying person in my arms."

Well, now she knew what _not_ to say…

Fraxinus briskly walked to the front gate of the castle. Waiting there were Anna, Rapunzel and company.

"Elsa! And…oh no, is he okay?"

Fraxinus opened his mouth, but Anna wasn't done.

"What happened? Why did he fall? And is this guy the fire spirit 'Fraxy'? Can you help Ig-"

"I'm starting to wish it wasn't this guy that was unconscious." Fraxinus said testily as he stalked by Anna.

Anna looked like someone had flicked her nose for no reason at all.

"He's…a bit grumpy." Elsa offered.

"Fraxy!"

Isen had run up to the old man and hugged him.

"I missed you so much! How's are you? How've you been?" She looked overjoyed.

"I enjoyed the quiet while it lasted." Fraxinus said, not returning the hug.

Isen simply beamed at him, to the general confusion of everyone.

"We need to get him on a table. Somewhere I can properly look at him." Fraxinus said, looking at the castle.

"Please…use the castle. We have places you can put him."

Fraxinus looked at the one who had spoken. King Thomas looked weary as he leaned against the wall of the gate. Fraxinus grimaced.

"Hm. I'm guessing you were the one who set this kid off?"

The King said nothing, ashamed.

"Figures. Even over thousands of years, royal paranoia never changes." And he walked inside.

Isen bobbed after him, smiling radiantly.

"Isn't he great?"

Shocked faces answered her question.

Eugene whistled. "Quite the gentleman."

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Fraxinus laid down Ignus on a table in the castle. Elsa stood beside him, worried sick. Anna, Isen and Kristoff followed.

Ignus' face was sweaty, contrasting the ice that covered more than half of it. He had a pained expression on his face, like he was having nightmares. He was still hot to the touch.

Elsa looked helplessly at Fraxinus. "What's happening to him?"

Fraxinus frowned, looking him over. "Shush."

Elsa was silent.

After a minute, Fraxinus picked up Ignus' frozen arm and inspected it.

"Bingo."

He was pointing at the wound where Elsa had first frozen him.

Elsa felt a pang of shame. "Yes…that's where it started."

"I know. Now shush."

Elsa was once again silent, though her patience was beginning to fray.

After another few minutes, she couldn't take it.

"What's happening to him? Please!"

Fraxinus said nothing at first. Then he sighed and looked at Elsa.

"To explain properly, I have to talk about some things. It'll take a while."

"I need to understand." Elsa looked earnest.

Fraxinus saw the honesty in her eyes. He looked at Isen.

"Let me talk to her alone. Take the chatterbox and the lug with you."

"Okay!" Isen promptly grabbed Kristoff and Anna's hands and walked out. Elsa could hear Anna's protests as she was dragged out.

"I don't mind if they listen as well-"

"I do. I don't like audiences."

He looked at her with his good, smoldering brown eye.

"Pull up a chair, then, Miss Ice Queen, we've got some ground to cover."

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

King Thomas gathered his men in gurneys and stretchers, ordering servants to treat them as soon as possible.

He had never felt so old. When he was a younger man he had never made such rash, paranoid decisions.

Now his misjudgment had caused each of the injuries on his soldiers' bodies.

He walked towards the edge of an overlook over his kingdom.

His pride, his heart, his life.

He looked down and sighed deeply, guilt washing over him in waves.

He then felt a small, smooth hand slip into his.

Turning, he saw Rapunzel standing beside him, looking at him with shining, compassionate eyes.

The King squeezed his eyes shut. "You must hate me for doing that."

Rapunzel shook her head.

"That was your friend, and I…"

"Dad…it's okay."

"It's not, Rapunzel. I…I made a mistake. And it cost me. It cost everyone."

"Even kings make mistakes."

He looked at her again. She had a small smile on her face.

"But when they do, it only makes them wiser."

The King was silent. Then a small smile formed on his face.

Even though they had only been reunited a few years ago, he felt like he had been her father his whole life.

Rapunzel hugged him softly, The King returning it. He wondered what he did to deserve a daughter like her.

"Your majesty…"

The King looked up to see a squire standing before him.

"Yes?"

"Sir, all men have been taken care of. We believe they all will make full recoveries."

The King's eyes widened. Even when he had angered him, the boy had refrained from seriously hurting his men.

"He is something…"

"Sir, there is a problem…"

He looked up immediately. "What is it?"

"Well…we had seventy-two men at the ready to move on the boy."

"Yes?"

"We only recovered seventy…two are missing."

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The two missing guards were hiding out in an alleyway.

"Well, that went well."

"Don't start."

"Fine. But man…ol' cinder-shoes sure is scary when you tick him off."

Fenrir tore off the guard uniform he had stolen at the castle and threw it on the ground.

"Well…aside from the fact that it failed, it was a great plan. Pretend to be Coronian guards, kill the boy, then King Beardo the magnificent gets all the blame. Devious and effective."

The other guard reached into a nearby trash can and fished out a rusty helmet. He put it on.

"You said he wouldn't be a problem."

"I thought he wouldn't. I assumed the ice was freezing him over."

"Well, it's not. It's only slowly increased since we last saw him." The man in the helmet answered testily.

"I know, I know. There's a different connection…it's not a matter of time. We'll just have to figure out what it is."

"How do we do that?"

"They have both spirits on their side now…we need some kind of advantage. Right now we're outnumbered and outpowered."

The man in the helmet said nothing for a moment.

Then he stood.

"I know what we need to do."

He walked away.

Fenrir rolled his eyes. "You could _tell _me your plan once in a while. I'm not gonna tell on you."

"Shut up."

The duo slunk away into the shadows of the alleys.

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"Isen and I are not spirits."

Elsa blinked.

"But…the legends…"

"Are human phony-baloney hogwash. You think I don't know what I am?"

"Wh-no! I'm sorry if i-"

"Well, I don't actually. Never did. I just know were not _spirits._"

Elsa was now just baffled. _This guy…_

"We were simply beings. We both existed. That's all we ever knew. From the earliest point in time, we simply were…there. And we had powers."

"That's…that's it? You don't know who or what created you?"

"No. Part of me thinks I never will. Most of me doesn't care. Maybe a god, maybe the universe, maybe some kind of freak accident or explosion. To me, it was always about what we were going to do now that we were here, existing."

"Then you and Isen have known each other a long time?"

Fraxinus rolled his eyes. "You get used to her."

Elsa felt a bit offended. "I think she's wonderful."

"Hmm."

He moved on.

"Soon enough, we came across humans. Well, we didn't use call them that. We didn't know what to call them. They were just things that didn't have powers like me and her."

"At first we just let them be. But soon Isen wanted to meet them. She started to feel lonely."

"She got a bit tired of being around you all the time? Surprising." Elsa said, slyly.

"Oh, how cute. The little princess thinks she can be bitter."

"I'm a Queen."

"Same thing. You want me to continue?"

Annoyed, Elsa nodded.

"Swell. Anyways, Isen ended up being a hit with the humans, with her powers and all. She made houses, bridges, constructs, anything the humans asked her to make."

Elsa smiled, feeling a connection to the little girl.

"The humans seemed to think they owned her. They had her do everything for them. They didn't know how to live on their own. That's when I stepped in."

Elsa felt a sense of foreshadowing.

"I demonstrated my powers. They weren't as fond of it."

"Why not? Fire can be as beautif-"

"It can be. It usually is. But the humans didn't take to it kindly. They were frightened, even angry at me."

He looked briefly at Ignus. "Guess he and I both know how that feels."

Elsa felt her heart squeeze a little.

"His friends turned on him back then..."

"They always do. As soon as they feel threatened, humans will turn on their own loved ones. Just look at your majesty out there, attacking this kid."

"But he was worried about his kingdom, not about himse-"

"They stopped asking Isen for help after i showed them how dangerous we could be." Fraxinus continued, leaving Elsa huffing angrily. "She and I then only talked to them from afar. We were silent guardians."

"For a long time it went on like that. Isen and I were eventually hailed as gods, with the people believing that we created seasons like summer and winter."

"Did you?" Elsa asked, curiously.

Fraxinus looked at her. "Maybe."

"Anyways, that's how it went. Isen was said to bring shelter, beauty and fun, as well as fear and pain."

Elsa stiffened a bit. She didn't like associating fear and pain with ice powers.

Fraxinus noticed. "Two sides to every coin, Miss Ice Queen. Up and down, good and bad. I was said to bring hope, prosperity, and comfort, while also bringing hardship, pestilence and disease."

"In a way, the beliefs were true. Isen and I noticed over time that we were opposites, mostly. Our powers, personalities, and appearances were totally different. But our magic was the same."

Elsa's brow furrowed. "But you just said-"

"Sh. I'll get to that. As you can guess, it only took a bit of time for people to get jealous of our powers, as most people do over things they want but don't have."

Elsa's eyes widened as she remembered the legend. "The one human who attacked you two."

Fraxinus nodded. "Yeah. One of the humans trained day in and day out to attack us. And he was powerful. Isen and I had no idea how he had gathered so much strength, but he was a match for us both, almost killing us. Eventually, our battle caused a deep hole to appear in the side of a mountain, which we entered as we fought. We carved out a large cavern with the force of our blows."

"Inside, the warrior nearly had us at the end. But as a last resort, Isen and I pooled our magic together and forced it into him, nearly destroying the mountain and ripping Isen and myself to pieces. We drifted into the world, millions and millions of pieces of us flying away, alive, but disconnected."

Elsa gasped. "So those storms-"

"Were Isen and I trying to reform ourselves. But we couldn't. Not without-"

"A center, right?" Elsa said.

"Wow, good for you, have a treat."

Elsa ignored the remark, to some degree. Exhaling, she asked, "Why did the storms start only recently? Why didn't they continue for all these years?"

"Because we didn't have you two."

He pointed at Ignus and Elsa.

"Us? But…"

"We sensed your powers as soon as you were born. We kept an eye on you for your whole life, waiting for the right time to try and call out to you."

"When the time came, we tried getting your attention, popping in and out of kingdoms all over the country, in the shape of the symbol you people created about us and the battle."

"How did you know about that?" Elsa asked incredulously.

"We may have been broken, but we could still keep an eye on the world, to a degree."

Elsa suddenly realized something.

"How did Ignus and I get your powers?"

Fraxinus leaned back, folding his arms.

"The big question. Now, I'm not entirely sure myself. You and he are anomalies. But if I had to guess…I'd say that you are the magic that Isen and I combined."

Elsa was shocked. "We…are the magic you made?"

"Well, no. You _carry_ the magic we made. After we blasted that lunatic into a million pieces, the magical energy we created was left to fly free. It was too great to be contained by the human and too powerful to dissipate on it's own. So it simply lingered in the world, causing the occasional freak storm here and there."

Elsa raised an eyebrow. "These are some pretty elaborate guesses."

"I'm a smart guy. Now shush. This is the part I'm not sure about. After thousands of years, the magic decided to break apart, splitting into two different pieces, my magic and Isen's magic. Then they chose to belong to a host again."

"Wait…a host?!"

"Yes, a host! Listen! The magic chose you and Ignus when you were babies to harness their powers and control them."

Elsa was at her limit. "It…_chose_ us? That's…insane! It's madness! You make it sound like the magic-"

"Is alive?"

Fraxinus was now talking quietly. Elsa was brought up short.

"Ever feel like your magic is helping you? Trying to protect you? Shield you from harm?"

"No! I don't!" Elsa was indignant. "My magic kept me isolated my whole life!"

"No, _you_ kept you isolated your whole life. Magic doesn't control you. You control it. Your emotions, your fear of your powers, it led the magic to do the only thing it could: help you isolate yourself. It lashed out at those who came to close to appease your desire to be left alone."

Elsa's head was spinning. "But…I didn't want to be alone…" she whispered.

"No, you didn't." Fraxinus now had a more gentle tone to his voice. "You didn't want to _hurt_ anyone. But your magic was confused. It didn't know how to help you. It couldn't simply cease to be, nor could it keep holding itself in. So it helped you not to hurt anyone by helping to keep you isolated, to fear the very thing that was trying to help you."

Elsa's mouth was open, her breath rapid and heavy.

"But once you knew how to love…once you _knew_ you could control your powers, your magic took its first breath of relief. You no longer wanted to be alone, you wanted to love those you cared about, and you wanted to _be _loved. So it could finally show itself in all it's beauty."

Fraxinus smirked. "Or at least, that's my guess."

Elsa put a hand on the table, steadying herself.

"It…it chose me and Ignus? Why?"

Fraxinus shrugged. "Beats me. Maybe they just picked randomly. Maybe they chose you two because you were born under a lucky star. We may never know."

Elsa tried to calm herself. Her magic was _alive_?

She let a puff of frost fly out of her hand. It seemed to twinkle and spiral more so than usual.

Elsa smiled in wonder.

Then stopped as soon as she realized her mistake.

Looking in terror at Ignus, she saw the ice creep ever-so-slightly more across his face.

She put her face in her hands.

Fraxinus was silent. Then…

"I was going to ask you to do that, actually."

Elsa looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

"That," He walked over and held up Ignus' arm. "Is what told me what's happening to this kid."

Elsa immediately perked up. "You know what's wrong then?"

"I can guess."

Elsa felt like she could have slapped him.

"You said you froze over a part of his arm to prevent poison from killing him?"

Elsa nodded.

"Well…I got good news. The poison is no longer a problem. It's been frozen so long it's basically become a part of the ice itself. Anything done to the ice will also happen to the poison."

Elsa's heart lept. "Then I can just unfreeze him?!"

"No."

Elsa felt her heart crash back down to the ground.

"Why not?"

"Because the ice has become a part of the kid. Remember how I said the only thing Isen and I had in common was the magic?"

Elsa, once again, nodded.

"That's because while we use it in different ways, the magic we have in our bodies is the same. We simply alter it when it enters our bodies. It's why we can combine our powers like you did, into a purple sort of energy."

Elsa understood, urging him on.

"The ice in Ignus' body is confusing the magic. It's being torn in two different directions. Ignus' body naturally turns it to fire, but your ice powers have infected him, turning the magic into ice."

"Now, in honesty, this wouldn't be a problem if that were all there was to it. The problem lies in Ignus' body itself."

Now Elsa was confused. "Why?"

"His body is accustomed to the fire within him, it has been for his entire life. The ice is not agreeing with him, warping his fire-proof body. If it continues to spread, it'll eventually kill him."

"As for why it spreads when you use your powers…any guesses?"

Elsa was too anxious to speak.

"Fine then. Spoil-sport."

She gave him a furious look.

"When you use your powers, the magic in Ignus' arm picks up on it because it's still connected to you. It's trying to get the rest of Ignus' body to use your ice magic, something that he just can't handle."

Elsa gave him a blank look.

Fraxinus groaned. "Fine. Think of it like this. Ignus has a bowl of water and you have a bowl of water. Ignus puts red dye in his and you put blue dye in yours. Following?"

"Okay, now imagine that you start putting a small bit of blue dye in Ignus' bowl every time you put some in yours. The result is every time you put blue dye in your bowl, some will also get put in Ignus' bowl, changing it and making it look rather nasty."

"As for his outburst with the guards back there and his heated skin, the magical war in his body is affecting him physically and mentally, symptoms of this magical disease in a way."

Elsa trembled. She looked down at Ignus' iced face. She put a hand on his head. It was still hot.

"Is there…anything you can do?"

Fraxinus folded his arms. Elsa didn't dare to breathe.

"If he exercises his own magic…that is, if he shoots fire, it'll calm down his brain and body, serving as a small reminder to his body of who's really in charge. But the main problem…"

He sighed. "If you were to try to remove the magic in his arm, you'd risk removing every bit of magic in him. His magic can no longer tell where the difference is. If you tried to scoop out all the blue dye in Ignus' bowl, you'd be taking just as much red with you."

The room was silent. Fraxinus' words sunk in.

Elsa felt tears. "Then…there's nothing I can do?"

"No, there isn't."

She let out a small gasp as the tears fell.

"But…there may be something Isen and I could do."

Elsa's eyes shot back up to him.

"When Isen and I were torn apart by the blast, a large piece of each of us was left behind. They contain large amounts of our magic. It also contains pieces of ourselves. It's the reason why Isen lost parts of her memory and I appear somewhat….wizened."

"If you can get her and I back to the cavern, the place where Isen and I battled the warrior, and help us recover our full strength, we may have the power to split the magic in his body and pull out the ice."

Elsa felt light as a feather.

"It's not a guarantee, but It's the only think I-"

"Uuuuugh..." A third voice said.

Ignus had finally woken up. His put a hand on his head, looking dizzy.

Elsa was beside him in an instant. "Are you alright?"

Ignus groaned. "Hot. Really hot."

"Shoot some fire. Lots of it." Elsa said.

Ignus regarded her with confusion. "Uh…why?"

"Trust me!"

"Okay, fine!" Ignus said, sounding irritated. He held out his good hand and let a large stream of fire burst out of it, flying across the room.

After a few seconds, he stopped.

Elsa looked at him with concern. "How do you feel?"

Ignus looked up. His mismatching eyes twinkled.

"Good, actually. Great!"

Fraxinus nodded and started walking away.

Ignus watched him leave.

"Wait…is that?"

"Yep." Elsa said, helping him stand up.

"Then…wait, where were we going again? What's going on?"

Elsa smiled and put a hand on his face.

"We're going to fix you, Ignus. And we're going to a cavern that will help those beings do it."

Ignus contemplated this for a moment.

"So, we're headed to a destination?"

"Um…yes?"

"And I'll be fixed there?"

"...yes?"

"So…you could say this is a fixed destination?"

Elsa laughed out loud, pulling Ignus into a hug.

End Chapter 10


	11. Chapter 11 - Moving Forward

**Author's Note – Hoo boy. I deserve a lot of hate for this chapter. Not only did it take way too long, but it's short and frankly, it was hard to write. **

**AS AN APOLOGY ****READ THIS IT'S IMPORTANT****, I'm inviting all readers to post a question to Ignus. I will release a Q&A chapter where Ignus (the character, not me) will answer any question you have for him to the best of his ability. All valid questions I get will be answered by Ignus. Anything at all, so long as it's not overtly offensive. Get creative!**

**Again, I'm sorry for the wait, and for the length of the chapter. I'm past a bit of a plateau in the writing, and I expect the plot will keep me going much faster now. **

**I hope the Q&A will make up for it. Enjoy.**

**-TheStanfordExperiment**

Chapter 11 – Moving Forward

"So…we were given these powers by a lingering, magical energy?"

"Yes."

"And…the magic inside us is alive-ish?"

"Yes."

Ignus looked at his arm with wonder.

"Huh. And we're going to the place the fight between Frax and Isen and that guy took place?"

"I believe so." Elsa answered again. "They said their full power was left there, and that if they can recover it they might be able to help you."

He and Elsa were riding beside Anna, Kristoff, Fraxinus and Isen. The King had given them the best horses he could provide (aside from Maximus of course) and had apologized well over ten times to Ignus, who had in turn apologized for his enraged assault.

He had then asked if there were any other means of transportation the King could provide. Elsa had to step in and graciously accept the horses, much to Ignus' chagrin.

Or, more accurately, to his chafing.

Ignus winced as the horse sped up a bit to catch up with the two others.

Fraxinus noticed his discomfort and raised an eyebrow.

"Horses? Really, kid?"

"I prefer to use my own two feet."

"We all have preferences. We hardly ever get them. Suck it up." Fraxinus said, cynically.

Isen looked up at him. "You've been pretty grumpy."

"I've always been grumpy. It's part of my charm."

Kristoff snorted. Unfortunately, Fraxinus heard him.

"I apologize if I find the definition of charm from a mountain man, who smells more like an animal than his steed does, somewhat…insignificant."

Anna put a hand on her mouth, trying to contain her fit of giggles.

"Hey. Some would call this smell 'manly'."

"Yes, of course. And I'm sure we'll find people with such opinions as soon as we visit the nearest cave."

Anna was now heaving with laughter. Ignus was also stifling his chuckles.

Kristoff rolled his eyes. "At least I don't smell like old people."

"Whoa there, hoss. You're gonna knock me off this horse with the force emanating from your absolutely stinging-"

"Fraxy!" Isen interrupted. "I can practically taste the sarcasm in the air! Quit it!"

Fraxinus, surprisingly, grumbled and consented.

Ignus gave Elsa an impressed look. "Wow. Tough kid."

Elsa smiled in bemusement.

"Do you know where this place is, by the way?" Ignus asked her, realizing he hadn't the faintest idea where they were going.

"I don't, actually." Elsa answered, shrugging. "Fraxinus just said he'd lead us there."

Ignus sighed looking ahead. "He seems okay, but…can we really trust him?"

Elsa leaned her head against him. "We have to. He and Isen are only ones who can help you."

Ignus nodded. He lifted up his frozen arm, flexing his fingers in wonder.

"It's strange…"

Elsa looked at him in concern. "How does it feel?"

"Fine, really. It doesn't hurt it's just…numb. It's like when your hand or foot falls asleep, except I can move it around."

"What about your face?"

"Same deal. Aside from the eye thing."

Ignus grinned and winked with his one silver eye.

"I'm unique!"

Elsa shook her head. "I could've told you that…"

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

After about a day's worth of travel, the six stopped for the night, camping out beside a river.

Ignus sat with Elsa next to it, watching the water rush by. Kristoff and Fraxinus were bickering over how to set up a tent.

Anna was left with Isen sitting by the fireplace.

"So…" Anna said, trying to be friendly, as usual. "Can you make ice castles?"

Isen looked over at her, excitement sparking in her eyes. "Yeah! It was my favorite thing to do! I made, like, a hundred an three!"

"Wow! Seriously?"

"Seriously! I made purple ones, blue ones, white ones, little ones, big ones…It was fun! But..."

Isen shrunk a bit. "I can't now…not without the rest of my powers. I can only do stuff like this…"

She waved her hand and made a little butterfly out of ice. It fluttered around Anna's head and landed on her hand.

Anna was amazed. "This is incredible!" She breathed, lightly touching the creation.

Isen perked. "Yeah. I also liked making ice animals. I once made a whale!"

Anna's eyes widened. "You made a _whale?_"

"Yeah! But…I sort of forgot that whales are huge. It kept flying around in the sky, crashing into stuff. Fraxy wasn't happy..."

Anna looked over at Fraxinus, who was now setting Kristoff's tent on fire.

"Isen…you seem to like Fraxinus a lot…"

"Yup!"

"Well…um, don't take this the wrong way but, uh…how?"

Silence lingered.

Then Isen burst out laughing.

"I know what you mean. He's kinda…cranky."

"He's cranky all the time, though!"

"I know, I know. It's just…he's my closest friend. We've been together ever since we first realized we were alive…whenever that was."

Anna gazed at her with compassionate eyes.

"It must have been hard. I mean, not knowing where you came from or anything…"

Isen exhaled softly, looking up. "It used to be. But we both decided a long time ago not to let it get us down anymore. We're here. That's all that matters. Fraxy said that to me once."

Anna nodded. "He does seem smart."

"He is. All of the lessons he taught me about life were great. He's my teacher and my friend. Even though he doesn't ever have a snowball fight with me."

"What about you?" Isen asked Anna. "Are you and Elsa friends? I mean, I know your sisters, but are you friends?"

"Yes." Anna loved being able to say that truthfully. "It was a long road, but we're almost inseparable now. I love having her as a sister."

"She seems wonderful." Isen said, looking at Elsa's silhouette by the river.

"She is. She's smart, beautiful, graceful, kind…oh yeah, and she has magical powers."

She and Isen giggled together. Then Isen calmed down and put on a slightly worried face.

"What do you mean by 'a long road'?" Isen asked her, tentatively.

Anna hesitated.

Isen, picking up on it, floundered about in a panic. "I'm sorry! I'm always asking questions that people don't wanna answer-"

"No, it's fine! Really! Elsa and I…we were isolated from each other for a while."

Anna explained the whole tale.

"Wow…" Isen whispered, eyes wide. "That's awful…"

"But we're fine now!" Anna said, smiling. "We talk everyday, and we can hardly ever take anything seriously…it's so much fun, having her around."

Isen cocked her head to the side a bit, like a curious puppy.

"What kind of things do you do?"

"Oh, you know, sister stuff. She teaches me about etiquette and grace, I teach her how to slide down a flight of stairs. We chat, eat chocolate, do royal things – oh, we went skiing, once! I was terrible, though, I can't stand up straight on anything that isn't my own two feet. We also love to build snowmen-"

"Snowmen?!" Isen practically exploded.

Fraxinus, overhearing, groaned audibly. "Now you done it…"

Isen gasped loudly with excitement. "Can we build some? Can we? Canwecanwecanwe?! I love making snowmen! Even more than castles and animals! Please, please, pleeeease?"

Anna was totally bewildered, but caught Isen's contagious excitement. "Yeah! I'd love to!"

Isen ran down to where Elsa and Ignus were sitting quietly by the glowing river. She nearly knocked Ignus in with excitement. Elsa had to grab ahold of him to stop him from tumbling into the water.

After a few seconds of watching Isen excitedly jabber to the two, Anna saw Ignus smile broadly and nod. Elsa smiled as well. They followed Isen back to the fire.

"We're all gonna build snowmen! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, this is the best thing to ever happen ever! We should have a contest! Best snowman wins the universe!"

Kristoff had come over as well. He cracked his knuckles. "You're on."

Isen practically vibrated with joy, and with a wave of her hands, a large blanket of snow fell out over their camp, dousing the fire and covering Fraxinus' freshly-made tent.

His words were too quiet to be overheard, thankfully, as they probably were quite profane.

Ignus relit the fire as Elsa picked up a handful of snow, forming it into a small ball.

"It's just the right texture." She said excitedly.

"Okay, ready? Threetwoone GOO!"

Isen shot off and practically dove into the snow, gathering up an enormous handful, nearly toppling under it's weight.

Anna and Elsa had teamed up. Kristoff and Ignus had as well.

After about a half-hour, everyone had finished.

Anna and Elsa stood proudly beside a very sloppy, yet adorably original snowman, taller than Olaf and a bit larger. It had two sticks as arms and a few stones as a mouth and eyes.

"Beat that!" Anna said, proudly.

Elsa simply smiled uncertainly.

Kristoff and Ignus stood aside, revealing their own creation. It looked similar to Anna and Elsa's, save for the facr that it had an arm missing.

Elsa noticed. "Um…is there any reason it doesn't have an arm?"

Ignus smiled, clearly waiting for her to ask. He walked behind the snowman, grinning.

Then he punched his frozen arm through it's side, giving it a very realistic-looking, albeit frozen, arm.

"Ta-dah!" Ignus said, grinning ear to ear.

Elsa put a hand to her face as she silently laughed, shaking her head. Isen and Anna were practically heaving with laughter.

"That-that is…" Elsa struggled to talk through her giggles. "That is not funny."

Ignus withdrew his arm, a look of mock disappointment on his face. "Kristoff, bad news. It's not funny."

Kristoff took of his hat in pretend shame. "What a waste."

Isen, finally pulling herself together, proudly displayed her snowman.

"Behold! The most epic most awesome and real-looking snowman to ever exist!"

And she flung her arms out towards her snowman.

It was…

Ignus tried to find words that wouldn't be so hurtful. It wasn't easy.

Her snowman was basically a single lump of snow mashed together into a misshapen blob. It had two feeble twigs sticking out and an asymmetrical face that appeared to have been carved in with Isen's own fingers.

Elsa looked uncertainly at Anna, who looked like she was at a complete loss for words.

Ignus cleared his throat.

"Well…I think it's clear who won."

Kristoff, Anna and Elsa all hastily agreed.

Isen beamed. "Yeah, don't feel too bad about it. I've been doing this for a while."

"Clearly." Kristoff said. Anna elbowed him softly.

"Are we done with the immature competition?" Fraxinus called over.

"Y'know, no one's keeping you here, Frax!" Ignus called back.

"If I could get to the cave myself, I would. But we need you two. You're the only ones who can get to that magic."

"Wait…what?" Elsa asked.

Fraxinus walked over.

"The cave's been blocked off. There's a barrier protecting the magic that lies within it, sort of a defense system so no one takes it by mistake, or for their own misdoings."

"Your point?"

"Isen and I may not have enough strength to break through the barrier. That's the flaw. It protects our magic, but we don't have enough on our own to retrieve it."

"Luckily, we have you two. And you should do just fine."

Ignus and Elsa looked at each other. Ignus gave Elsa a "whattaya gonna do" kind of shrug.

"So sleep. Because we're leaving first thing tomorrow morning." Fraxinus then sapped his fingers, extinguishing the fire in the camp.

Somewhat sullenly, the group settled in, slowly falling to sleep, the lull of the river calming everyone.

Except for one person.

Ignus quietly walked away from the camp once everyone had dozed off, hiding behind a tree.

He had been meaning to test something secretly.

He held out his frozen arm. His eyes scanned it cautiously.

Then he tried to use some magic with it.

Before his very eyes, a burst of snow flew from his hand, dancing in the wind.

Ignus' mouth fell open, despite himself. He had not expected that to work at all. His face broke into an excited smile.

Then his arm pulsed with pain, traveling up his arm and to his face.

Ignus grunted. He knew the ice had grown more.

Ignus stood still for a moment. Then he kicked a nearby rock into the river in frustration. He had hoped he could at least put his disability to use, but he'd only end up hurting himself more.

"Can't have cake and eat it too…" Ignus muttered.

He walked back to camp and sat beside Elsa, watching over her as she slept. His eyes slowly closed as his dreams claimed him.

There was a slow rustle nearby.

A shadowy figure had entered the camp. Stalking quietly through the grass, he crept up to one of the tents.

His toothy grin gleamed in the moonlight, almost as much as his silver hair.

"Hello, Princess." Fenrir whispered to Anna.

End Chapter 11

**A/N – Don't forget to leave a question for Ignus! They shall be answered by him.**


	12. Bonus Chapter - Q&A with Ignus

Bonus Chapter – Q&A with Ignus

Quick note from me, TheStanfordExperiment

Ignus is not answering any questions pertaining to the plot of Initium Magica, for those of you whose questions aren't answered fully.

That is all from me.

**Uh…hello?**

**Right, um…this is Ignus. I guess you know that.**

**I've been told that I'm supposed to answer some questions about myself…not entirely sure how people know about me, but, whatever. I'm game.**

**Anyways, let's get started! With…whatever this is!**

From FlashFreeze0 – If you were to fight each other seriously…who would win?

**Well…first off, I assume you're talking about Elsa. Might wanna clarify a bit more with your questions there, buddy. But to answer the question, I don't think I'll ever find out, because I'd never fight Elsa. I'd turn and run. You do not mess with the Ice Queen when she's angry. So…I guess that actually does answer the question. Elsa wins by way of me running away screaming.**

From usuihentai727 – Ingus, which is your favorite food, animal and season?

**It's Ignus. Not Ingus. Come on, man. Anyway, my favorite food is roasted chicken (cooked with my own fire for the perfect texture), my favorite animals are dogs, although they don't like me much, and my favorite season is winter. Sounds strange, right? I just think it's a beautiful time of year. Also it reminds me of Elsa, but that's more of a recent perk.**

From Producciones Escudo – Puedes hablar otro idioma mi amigo? AND HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT…having a catch phrase?!

**Nah. I never really needed to learn a language. I never traveled out of country, it was too dangerous to go near ports or travel sights. I stood out too much. As for the catch phrase…no. I don't really think I'm the type of guy to pull off a "catchphrase". But if I did have one, it'd be something like "I'll cut through you like a BLAZEr!"**

**…**

**…yeah, I'm not using a catchphrase. Ever.**

From Cosplayer98 – When did/will you sleep with Elsa for the first time? If you know what I mean :D

**When was the first time someone introduced his or her fist into your appendix? If you know what I mean.**

From a Guest – What is your favorite thing about Elsa?

**Ah, man, I gotta be careful with this one. It's hard to pin down one thing about Elsa that I love, but I'll skip the mushy gush. I guess…her personality. She's really a tough cookie, and she's calm and collected, always able to chill me out when I lose it. But she can also be a bit insecure. It's nice to know I can help her like she helps me. Oh, and she's also pretty.**

From SpectorChris – **Okay, we're gonna have to do this one at a time, cause you had a loooooot of questions.**

What was the most exciting adventure you had before meeting Elsa?

**My whole life had kind of been one nightmarish adventure until I met Elsa. But if you want a specific moment, there was a time that I raided a crypt. It's where I found my sword. But that's a long story.**

Meet anyone ever on your solo travels that was rememberable-

**"Memorable". Don't hurt yourself.**

-such as a good friend?

**I once stayed at an old woman's cottage while I was on the run. She was very kind to me. About two days after, the River found me and nearly set fire to her house. I didn't talk to many people after that. It was too dangerous for others when I was around.**

Ever play sports with Marshmallow or Olaf?

**I've wrestled Marshmallow once or twice. As you can imagine, he always wins. Except for that time I melted his feet, but that didn't really count. Also I occasionally kicked Olaf's head around like a ball. I asked him first, of course, but that wasn't a good enough reason for Elsa, so I cut it out.**

When did you realilized-

**PFFT. Okay, okay…hoo. Sorry, I'll stop.**

That you had a disliking for horses?

**First time I ever rode one. It's not natural. I don't know how anyone does it. **

What was your last name again?

**I never said. And probably never will. Sorry, but you already know a disturbing amount of stuff about me, so I'm not sure I want to give you more personal info.**

Ever consider moving to a higher relationship than boyfriend and girlfriend with Elsa?

**First, I'm not sure what we have now is boyfriend/girlfriend. More like Queen and Really-lucky-guy-that-the-queen-somehow-likes. But to answer your question…yeah. Many times. And continuing to do so. **

From IceKitten – Can you describe your relationship with Elsa in 100 words or less?

**I can describe it in 1. "Balanced". She cools my temper, I warm her up when she's icy. Simple as that.**

From – How would you like to propose to Elsa and how would you want the wedding day to look?

**What is with you people and my love life?! Ugh…I have no idea how I'd propose to Elsa. If…if I did, I'd want to be suave and charming about it. In reality, I'd probably be a shivering, stuttering mess. As for the wedding day…okay, you know what? No. I'm not going there. Jeez…**

From Prince Odin of Hadendalle – Ignus, how did you get your fire magic? Born or cursed?

**Uhhhh…pretty sure that was explained already? In case you need a recap, Fraxinus' magic found it's way into my body when I was born. So…wait. Actually, technically speaking, I have no idea if I was born or cursed with it. Maybe it bonded to me while I was still in the womb, maybe right after, I have no clue. I'm gonna say "born", though, because I've never thought of it as a curse.**

From BellaBamia – Ignus, how many kids do you want? And what would you name them? :D

**Boy I just love answering questions.**

**I don't know. Having kids isn't something I thought about for a long time. I was preoccupied with my own survival. Now…well, we'll just see what happens. I'm not rushing anything. I've done too much rushing in my life.**

From Guest – Has Ignus ever had a deep friendship or love before Elsa and the people of Arendelle?

**People seem to forget that I had a life before I started running, although I understand why. Before the whole…thing with the Duke I was known throughout my entire village. I had a lot of friends. And there was a girl I liked. And my parents, of course. But…well, you know what happened next. I didn't really look back after that.**

From Guest – Are there other people who have magical powers?

**It's a big world. Elsa and I are pretty unique, but I don't doubt there are others in the world with extraordinary abilities, not necessarily control of a certain part of nature. Like Rapunzel, for instance. She had powers. I just hope that if we ever meet any more, they're gonna be on our side.**

From olafthewhitesnowman – We all know that Elsa and Anna and Olaf and even Kristoff can sing, but can YOU sing a tune? And would you ever sing?

**Good question. I like to think I can sing somewhat well. Elsa tells me I'm fantastic, but I think that's just her being nice. Not that I don't like that. One of my favorite songs to sing is "I See Fire". It's an old folksong that was passed down for generations about a town being attacked by a dragon. Elsa thinks it's a sad song, but I can't stop singing it. It's catchy. Also, I kind of connect with it. I know what it's like to burn down things.**

From olafqhace – When will you ask Elsa to marry you? And what sort of powers do you think your firstborn will have?

**Wh…****_what?! _****F-firstborn?!**

**No! We're not doing this! Next question, please!**

From Premium Soy Sauce – Have you ever tried to fry an egg on your hand?

**Best.**

**Question.**

**Ever.**

**Excuse me while I go do that.**

**….**

**…**

**…**

**Okay, so it's really messy and gross, but I can cook an egg on my hand. I can't believe I never thought of that before. Thanks for that!**

**Alright, that's all the questions I got, or at least all the ones I can answer. **

**Oh yeah, I'm supposed to mention that you should all feel free to leave me more questions because we may be doing another one of these. The author guy says that you can also drop a question to the other characters because they'll be included in the next one as well. **

**But seriously, can we quit all the invasiveness of these questions? Every other question, It's "Marry elsa" this, and "how many kids" that-**

_Ignus? Who are you talking to?_

**No one, Els! No one at all! I'll be with you in a second!**

_What were you saying about questions?_

**Nothing! Just…thinking out loud?**

_Um…alright…_

**…**

**…**

**Alright, wrapping up, thanks for liking my stories. Glad someone does. **

**Have a good one.**

**-Ignus**


	13. Chapter 12 - Beware

**Author's Note – While I had great fun writing the Q&A, I was notified by a reader that on Fanfiction, Q&As are technically prohibited.**

**This leaves the matter of having another somewhat up in the air. **

**I am a newcomer to fanfiction; I have no idea if they follow up on those rules, nor what the punishments are for disobeying them. If you know about these matters, let me know. **

**I don't want to risk having my stories or account suspended because I wanted to do some silly stuff. That wouldn't be fair to you guys.**

**By the way, for all of those who keep telling me to send this to Disney, while I truly am humbled…well, I did some research. I found this, and I quote from the official website…**

**"**We rely primarily on our directors for story ideas and only accept external creative ideas through agent representation. It is the long-standing policy of The Walt Disney Company (including its subsidiary and affiliated companies) not to accept, but rather to reject the submission of ideas without prior authorized invitation. The word "ideas" in this context includes all creative suggestions, artwork, designs, theme park attraction concepts, game proposals, scripts, treatments, manuscripts, and songs, in whatever form, from whatever source, and however communicated." **( faqs)**

**So…yeah. It's pretty ironclad. And I can't really blame them. They'd be getting fanfic's, songs and stories by the truckloads. **

**But, back to the real reason we're all here.**

**I'm back in the New York Groove, but I do not own Frozen.**

Chapter 12 – Beware

Anna had dreams a lot. In fact, there were few nights when she _didn't_ experience some form of nighttime wonder.

Sometimes she had good dreams. Sometimes she had strange dreams. She had a choice few wonderful dreams, and she sometimes had blood-curdling nightmares.

But Anna loved dreams, no matter what kind they were.

So a night without dreams was utterly terrifying to her.

What Anna did not realize at the time was that she was, in fact, unconscious rather than asleep.

Fenrir dropped Anna onto the ground. The impact roused her.

As she opened her eyes, a few things hit her at once. She couldn't move her arms or legs, she couldn't talk, and this was the _worst_ bed ever.

She then realized she wasn't in the bed in her tent with Kristoff, but rather tied up on some rocks. And two figures loomed over her.

Anna made a muffled noise of surprise through her gag.

Fenrir chuckled. "Always think it's funny how people try to talk through the gag."

The man in the helmet said nothing.

Fenrir looked at him. "Why are we doing this, anyway?"

"As I've told you a hundred times before," The man answered in an oddly gruff voice. "We need to halt the progress of the Ice queen and the fire wielder."

"Right. Cool." Fenrir swung his arms at his sides nonchalantly. "Soooo…why aren't we just killing her? You think that leaving her here is a good idea?"

"First, shut up. Second, we are not leaving her here, you're going to take her someplace else-"

"Whaaat? Why me?"

"Because you're less important."

"At least I can swing a sword. All you do is boast about your knowledge of the queen."

"YES. I do." The man whirled around in frustration. "I know about the queen. That's why you need me. We've been over this. Now listen."

"We are not killing her because that would only serve to infuriate the boy. Her majesty would be too devastated to counterattack, but the boy would do so in an instant, seeing her like that. And his anger would most likely prove too much for both you and I."

"So, we compromise. We leave her. They would never continue without locating her first, thus giving us time to reach the Hall first."

Fenrir considered this. "Hmm…makes sense. Is there a reason we're explaining this in front of her, by the way?" He pointed to the silent-but-conscious Anna.

"It doesn't matter."

Fenrir raised an eyebrow, but shrugged. "Whatever you say, chief. Alright, little lady, let's go on a little journey."

"Hold on."

The man in the helmet walked in front of Anna.

"Leave us."

Fenrir gave a short laugh. "What? You gonna-"

"Now."

Fenrir stopped talking. He simply shook his head, grinning as he walked off.

Anna was left alone with the man, staring at his helmet with defiance in her eyes.

"I'll make this quite brief."

The man knelt down to her face.

He removed his helmet.

"Everything you know will change. Everything. Goodbye, Anna."

He stood back up and put back on the helmet.

"Fenrir. Take her to the den."

Fenrir did a fist-pump. "LOVE leaving people there."

He promptly slung Anna over his shoulder and strutted off.

He didn't notice the shock in her eyes.

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Elsa woke to the sensation of a burning heat against her skin.

Bolting up in a wild panic, her eyes flew around in their sockets, trying to find out what was happening through her tired mindset. It was still totally dark out, midnight it seemed.

Ignus had sent an enourmous stream of fire into the air. He looked furious. Kristoff was pacing around, a look of pure terror on his face.

Elsa felt fear settle in. "What? What's going on?"

Ignus turned and looked at her. His eyes were full of anger and shame.

"Els…"

Kristoff put a fist to his mouth, shaking his head in agitation and anxiety.

"They've got your little sis."

Fraxinus had walked over.

Elsa needed about ten seconds to process what he was saying.

Then her eyes widened.

"Wh-what?!"

"They took Anna. Those two that have been chasing us." Ignus added. His jacket was seared from his flames. "I'm sorry, Els, it's my fault…"

"They have ANNA?!"

"Isen's trying to find them." Kristoff answered shakily, pointing at a tall pillar of ice next to him. Isen was at the top, peering out over the landscape.

Elsa's breath came in heaves. Panic erupted through her mind.

"No…no, not her. They can't…"

Frost seeped out from her feet through the ground. The wind whipped around her.

"Calm down. Now." Fraxinus ordered sharply.

Elsa whirled on him. "Don't you _dare_ tell me to calm down now! My sister's been _kidnapped_!"

"And your boyfriend's gonna be a popsicle if you don't put a lid on it!" Fraxinus shouted back.

She remembered. Her eyes shot to Ignus, who was cringing and clutching his arm in pain.

"Ignus! No…I'm-I'm sorry!"

"We're going to find her." Fraxinus said calmly. "Hear me? We are going to find her!"

Elsa took deep breaths, trying to calm herself. The wind stopped blowing. The frost retracted.

Elsa looked at Ignus with worried eyes. "Better?"

Ignus shook himself and nodded. "Better."

Just then Isen's pillar shrank. She hopped down from it and looked around helplessly.

"Nothing…"

Kristoff turned away vehemently as Elsa put a hand on Ignus' arm.

"C'mon, c'mon, there has to be SOMETHING!" Kristoff yelled.

Fraxinus was silent. Then…

"Well, at least it's easy to think of a way find her without her incessant jabbering to distract us."

In an instant, Kristoff had Fraxinus off the ground, holding him by his raggedy shirt.

"_Enough!_" Kristoff growled through clenched teeth."The only things that have come out of your mouth since the moment we met you are insults and cynicism! I can take being called a dirty mountain man, but _this is my wife_! _And she could be dying!_"

"YES!" Fraxinus shouted. "Hold onto that!"

Kristoff blinked in anger, his confusion momentarily outweighing his fury. "What?!"

With more speed than Ignus though the old man was capable of, Fraxinus had grabbed Kristoff's forehead. A red glow emanated from his palm.

"What are you doing?!" Elsa yelled in outrage.

Fraxinus did not respond. His eyes were shut tight in concentration. The light in his hand pulsed several times.

Then his eyes opened and he withdrew his hand. Kristoff collapsed to his knees, heaving, but unharmed.

"Wh…what _was _that?!" He managed to get out. He sounded like he had just run a marathon.

"That…" Fraxinus answered calmly. "Was the only way to find your wife."

Elsa's face lit up. "So that means-"

"Yeah. I know where Miss Pigtails is."

Ignus' mouth fell open. "But…how?!"

Fraxinus smiled at him. "You may have my powers, but don't think you know more than me about them."

He held up his glowing hand, which pulsed softly.

"Flames have many forms, Ignus. Including passion. I knew that pushing your buttons would set you off." He then looked at Kristoff, who had stood back up.

"Thinking about your wife and her situation caused a rush of emotions and passion in you. Like when a kid sneezes by looking into the sun. I can pick up on that surge."

Ignus was impressed, but waiting for a conclusion. "How does that help us?"

"That amount of emotion comes from a special bond, a connection. I can trace that connection back to the squirt, the source of that passion in your noggin." Fraxinus finished.

Isen hopped around, clapping like she had seen a magic trick. "I forgot you could do that!"

"Yeah. You forgot practically everything, remember?" Fraxinus said, raising an eyebrow.

Isen cowed a bit.

"Off we go, then." Fraxinus said briskly, walking away. Isen followed at his heels.

Kristoff followed close behind, looking ready to kiss Fraxinus. Elsa looked at Ignus.

"Are you alright?"

Ignus smiled. "Course. Now let's go find your sister."

He squeezed her hand and jogged after the others, Elsa right behind him.

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Anna had been flopping around very uncomfortably on Fenrir's shoulder for the last half-hour. Her stomach felt like jelly.

She had tried desperately to make some kind of noise, be it a squeak or a full-blown scream. But the gag in her mouth muffled all her attempts.

"You've been very quiet!" Fenrir said, mockingly. He had been doing this for a while.

"Well, I'd be too, if I had a gag in my mouth. 'Cept I usually do the gagging, as you can see."

"So…while we're walking along this long, lonely road, how about we talk a bit?"

Anna made an angry grunt.

"Swell. So, Princess Anna of Arendelle…" He flipped her over his shoulder and held her princess-style.

Anna squirmed in disgust.

"Why did you save your sister?" Fenrir said, looking straight into her eyes.

Anna was silent. It was hard to look back. His green eye seemed to be poisonous and his scarred eye was terrifying.

"Well, of course you have the easy answer. She's your sister! The only family you have left. Of course you'd try to help her! But she was more than your sister. She was going to be _Queen_."

"You grew up your whole life knowing Elsa would take the throne…knowing YOU, the young sister would never be the Queen. Yet from what I heard this never bothered you at all. Why is that?"

Anna was now thoroughly confused. She had never envied Elsa's right to the throne. She thought she'd make a much better Queen, and she preferred the life of a Princess anyway.

"And furthermore, when she revealed her powers…a secret she kept from you for _years _on end…you still almost sacrificed your life to save her!"

Fenrir let out a laugh. Anna felt fear crawl into her. He was starting to sound deranged.

"Oooh…sisterly love. Beautiful, ain't it?" Fenrir said, looking up into the sky.

"Ah, I love meeting people like you, Anna."

Anna glared at him in revulsion.

Fenrir suddenly stopped walking. His grin vanished in an instant.

Anna froze. She wasn't glaring _that_ hard…

Fenrir dropped Anna to the ground. She landed rather clumsily, making a muffled "oof".

But her discomfort was amplified into sheer terror when Fenrir grabbed her head and looked at her face. His nose was inches from hers. He was grinning madly.

"I'll tell you why, Princess Pigtails. You are spiteful. Pure and simple."

Anna's eyes furrowed. _What?!_

"People don't realize how powerful spite can be. It can turn a reformed gentleman into a ruthless killer, a giver into a taker, a regular man…"

He chuckled softly.

"…into a _madman._"

Anna squeaked in utter confusion.

"Princess, you hadn't met Elsa in _years._ You barely saw her, never interacted with her, she was practically a _STRANGER _the day of the coronation and yet…you still wanted to be a good sister. You didn't know this woman, and what's more, she was still considered more important than you."

"ANY person would've felt anger, resentment, and no sense of attatchment whatsoever…but you felt none of those. You refused to feel what any normal person would…and it's because of spite."

"Now, maybe not the kind of spite you're thinking about." Fenrir withdrew his face and paced around, a serene look on his face.

"You think of spite as an act of contempt, doing something wrong just for the sake of it. But it's so much more. It's what makes us break our bonds, it's what makes us want more."

"It's what makes us REACH UP-" He raised his hands and his voice. "And say, 'SCREW YOU, WORLD, I'M DOING WHAT I _WANT_!'. It's _freedom_!"

Fenrir then fell into a fit of deranged laughter.

Anna was now certain that the man before her was not sane.

Fenrir pulled himself together. "See-See, some call it 'defiance' or 'independence', but it's not. No, no, no, no, it's not. It's you taking the norm, the script, the layout of what you are expected to do, and _tearing it to pieces_!" Fenrir's arms flew around wildly as he pretended to tear something up.

"But what's best…what's best about spite…" He crouched down to Anna and whispered. "Is that everyone has it. It's just a matter of realizing it or not."

He snickered, like he had just told a joke.

"People like you, _Anna,_ people who are just SO interesting to meet…they don't realize that they do what they do out of spite. They think it's kindness or love or nobility or blah-dee-blah-blah-blah-bleeeeegh. You helped your sister because it was not what was to be expected of you. All those people in town who told you not to do it, who told you that she was a lost cause...you wanted nothing more than to show them they were wrong."

Anna's eyes widened.

Fenrir grinned toothily. "And it felt _good _when you did, didn't it? You're not a bad person, Anna, in fact you're probably a wonderful person. But everyone has spite inside them, and there's no greater satisfaction than succumbing to it."

Shuddering with delight, he picked the completely-mortified Anna back up and started walking again.

After about ten minutes, Fenrir entered a deep cave next to a waterfall. Anna tried desperately to wriggle free, but Fenrir had a strong grip.

"Oh, I wouldn't twitch so much, Princess. You'd want to keep quiet in this place." He said quietly, but with the same malicious tone.

Anna looked around. Fenrir was now quietly creeping through the cave. It was as dark as it was silent.

She heard a noise behind her, the direction in which Fenrir was walking. Panic crept through her.

Suddenly, Fenrir carefully put Anna onto the ground. He turned her around, facing her upwards. Anna tried to see through the dark, but her eyes had not adjusted.

"And now, Princess, most unfortunately…I gotta scram." Fenrir said to her in a very quiet voice. "But let me leave you with this."

"A mother's love for her children can be a very dangerous thing."

His eyes gleamed with evil amusement.

"Thanks for your participation in this evil scheme, courtesy of Fenrir Wickerman. We hope you've enjoyed. Ta!"

Fenrir, snickering under his breath, left Anna in the darkness.

Anna looked around hopelessly, trying to find some way to escape. She could barely see anything, but her vision was adjusting. She noticed a jagged edge of a nearby rock.

_Maybe that'd be sharp enough to cut the ropes. _Anna thought.

She tried to roll towards the edge, but she then heard a loud breath.

Her body froze. She didn't dare breath.

A few moments…then silence once again.

Anna strained her eyes, trying to see something, anything.

Finally, her eyes came to four objects lying opposite her. She squinted…

It was a good thing her mouth was bound, otherwise she'd have surely gasped.

The four objects were a full-grown mother bear and her three cubs.

_A mother's love_. Anna thought, terrified.

If she woke those cubs up, they'd panic. And then the mother would-

She stopped thinking about it.

Anna looked the cubs more. They were really very cute.

The mama bear was not.

Anna looked outside at the exit of the cave. It was still dark, but she knew it wouldn't be long before morning came.

And three very frightened cubs would call mama for help.

End of Chapter 12


	14. Chapter 13 - A Mother's Love

**Author's Note – I have no note. But that in and of itself could be considered a note.**

**Assuming I haven't erased your mind with my paradox, enjoy the chapter.**

Chapter 13 – A Mother's Love

It was surprising how quickly Fraxinus could move, considering his aged appearance.

He deftly jogged through the forest, running alongside the river that they had camped beside the night before.

Ignus, Isen, Kristoff and Elsa followed behind him. They had been running for almost fifteen minutes straight.

Looking back, Ignus saw Elsa huffing for breath. He slowed down and ran beside her.

"Tired?"

Elsa wiped her brow. "No…I'm…*huff*…I'm okay."

"MmmmmDoesn't seem like it." Ignus said.

"Really, I'm…I'm fine."

She was now practically gasping for breath.

Ignus frowned a bit. "I can carry you if you want…"

"No! I'm fine!"

Ignus sighed exasperatedly. While Elsa had recently begun to appreciate the company of others, she still was fiercely independent.

He admired that in her. He also knew that now more than ever, with Anna in danger, she'd push herself to the limit.

"I'd give you some energy with my powers, but…" Ignus held up his iced hand. "We've kind of seen what happens when we do that."

Elsa looked at him reassuringly. "I...I'm okay..."

"I know you are, but it might be quicker if I carried you…"

"Ignus-"

"We'd get to Anna faster."

She looked at him. He shrugged.

"Just sayin'."

Elsa sighed. "Just until I catch my breath."

Ignus grinned. "Will do."

He scooped her up and ran after the three others, catching up to them.

"Royalty never did seem to work wonders for the muscles, did it, your majesty?" Fraxinus called back.

"And age apparently does not always solve immaturity." Elsa fired back.

Fraxinus looked back sharply. Then he shrugged approvingly.

Ignus sniggered.

"That goes for you as well, Pun-man." Elsa said, raising an eyebrow at him.

Ignus didn't chuckle much after that.

"How far is it now?" Kristoff asked in a concerned voice.

"Not far." Fraxinus said.

"You keep saying that!" Kristoff responded, sounding frustrated.

"You keep asking me."

Kristoff groaned.

"But I'm being serious this time. We're close."

Fraxinus slowed down. He started to walk, like he was in a trance.

After a few minutes of walking like this, Fraxinus stopped and looked up towards a waterfall.

Ignus frowned. "They put her behind a waterfall? That's just way too cliché."

"She's not. She's in that cave next to it."

"Oh. Alright, slightly better."

Kristoff, as soon as he had heard the words "she's in the cave", had taken off running towards it.

"Whoa, whoa whoa, Kris!" Ignus chased after him, trying to catch up.

Kristoff was feet from the entrance to the cave when Ignus grabbed him and held him back.

"What are you-get off!"

"Just hang on a sec, man, they had a reason for choosing that cave! Don't just go charging in!"

Kristoff looked angry, but he acknowledged Ignus' advice. He stopped struggling.

Ignus crept up to the cave's entrance. He peeked inside.

"Anything?" Kristoff asked.

"You're the mountain man. Any tell-tale signs in this cave?"

Kristoff looked in alongside him. He squinted in concentration.

"It seems safe enough…I don't see any signs of wolves staying here or any other…oh no."

Ignus felt an immediate sense of dread. "What?"

Kristoff pointed. "See those scratch marks?"

Ignus followed his hand. There were some noticeably large scratch marks on the side of the cave.

"It's a bear cave." Kristoff said.

Ignus groaned.

Isen, Fraxinus and Elsa had caught up with them.

"What's going on-" Elsa started.

"Sssh!" Kristoff and Ignus simultaneously shushed her.

She gave them a frustrated look and repeated quietly, "What's going on?"

"It's a bear cave." Ignus whispered grimly.

Elsa's eyes widened in panic. "What do we do?"

"Only a few of us should go. We need to be as quiet as possible. I think Kristoff and I should go."

"Absolutely not. I'm coming to." Elsa fired back at once.

"Els, look…If things go south we may need to protect ourselves, and with you..."

He patted his arm and gave her an apologetic look.

Elsa felt a pang of helplessness.

"…fine. Alright. But at the first sign of trouble I'm coming in."

"Why can't we come? I wanna see the bears!" Isen asked, pleadingly.

Ignus contemplated this. "Make a puff of snow real quick."

Isen looked confused, but obeyed.

Ignus' arm remained normal.

"Huh. Guess it's just Elsa. Alright, you and Kristoff head in. I'll stay here."

"Huh? I thought you wanted to-"

"No, me! I wanna go, can I, can I pleeeease?"

Four very aggravated faces looked at Fraxinus, who had spoken in a very whiny voice.

"If you infants are done playing 'who gets to go spelunking', can we get a move on?"

Kristoff exhaled exasperatedly and looked at Isen. "Alright, let's go."

Isen sprung up at once. "Okey dokey!"

They quietly crept into the cave.

Elsa and Ignus watched them go in.

"Why'd you change your mind?" Elsa asked Ignus.

"Isen's smaller, she'll make less noise. If she can keep her mouth closed, that is. Her ice magic is also better for this situation as well. She can stop the bear without really hurting it. Fire…probably wouldn't get the same results."

"Plus she wants to see the bears. Who am I to deny her?"

Elsa gave him an incredulous look.

"Relax, I'm joking. They'll be fine. Kristoff's practically a bear himself. If anything our biggest worry is that he'll go native."

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"We're in trouble."

Kristoff mumbled to himself very quietly as he crouched low in the cave.

A mother and her three cubs were directly in front of him, snoozing gently. They looked very peaceful.

But Kristoff knew what happened when you approached a bear's cubs…

_Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't think…crud._

He looked behind him at Isen, whose dimples looked like they were about to jump out of her face.

"They're so cute…" She whispered in a cutesy voice.

Kristoff put a finger to his mouth. Isen wised up.

As they very carefully crept around the bears, Kristoff heard a small rustling.

Looking sharply to his left, he saw a person tied up rolling across the cave floor.

He nearly spoke out loud. _Anna._

He turned to Isen and pointed at Anna. Her eyes widened and she nodded.

Kristoff took a very small step forward.

Then another.

Then one more.

_Click_

Funny how terrifying small noises can be.

Looking down in panic, Kristoff saw a broken tripwire at his feet.

Following the wire, he had just enough time to see a tiny, harmless dart fly from a firing mechanism.

It missed him and Isen completely, even going past Anna. Kristoff breathed with relief.

He then reclaimed his recently-released breath as he realized the dart had hit one of the small cubs.

The cub gave a small cry of pain.

With terrifying speed, the large mother bear awoke.

It stood on it's hind legs and gave a fierce roar.

The bear's eyes fell upon the helpless Anna. Her eyes widened with fear.

With another roar, the bear charged at her.

Kristoff was not always the most strategic person, but even he later came to admit that what he did was a very stupid thing to do.

He jumped at the bear and grabbed onto it's back, pulling it up away from Anna.

The bear ferociously lashed around, trying to angle it's head in a way that'd be able to reach the blond invader on it's back. Kristoff hung on for dear life.

"Isen!" He shouted at the petrified young sorceress.

"What?! Oh yeah!"

She raised her hands and four walls of shining ice erupted out of the ground, trapping the bear within it. Kristoff managed to get his feet on top of the bear and jump above the walls, crashing down next to Isen.

The mother bear gave a resounding cry of fury.

Kristoff, not wasting a moment, ran over to Anna and pulled out a small knife he usually carried with him. Taking care, he began to slice through the ropes binding her.

"You always did like furry animals too much." Kristoff said as he worked.

Anna gave a muffled retort.

"What?" Kristoff asked.

He removed her gag.

"I said I didn't come here by myself, you know!"

"Yeah, I know. But you must've been overjoyed to be so close to some cute bears." Kristoff always got a bit mock-happy when he was under stress.

"Kristoff!"

"Sorry, it's been a long night. I was worried about you."

Anna's eyes softened. "I'm sorry."

He smiled at her. The he went back to cutting the ropes. He had finished most of the ones on her legs. They were very thick ropes, obviously made to hinder any attempt to cut them.

"Are you done yet?" Anna asked worriedly, looking at the walled-off bear, who was making loud crashing noises as it rammed against the glass.

"No, dear, not yet." Kristoff said stressfully as he moved on to her arms.

"Now?"

"No, Anna."

"Now?"

"Anna, shush please. I need quiet for this."

"Kristoff…"

Isen sounded very scared as she poured more ice into her walls, which were slowly cracking from the bear's efforts.

"Can't you make it stronger?" Kristoff asked desperately.

"I'm sorry, I only have a little bit of my magic! The rest is-"

"Is in the other cave place, I know, sorry. I forgot." He exhaled in frustration.

Kristoff picked Anna up and moved her away from the bear's failing cage. Her hands were still bound.

Then he heard the rest of the cubs start making frightened cries. The sight of Isen's magic and three strange intruders was too much for the baby animals.

The mother's efforts doubled at the sound of her children's wails. The ice splintered as she finally crashed through the barrier.

"Run!" Kristoff shouted to Isen, scooping up Anna and heading for the door.

The bear charged in front of them, however, cutting off their escape. She stood on her hind legs and snarled menacingly.

Isen ran behind Kristoff, who stood in front of Anna protectively.

He braced himself, closing his eyes.

The bear lunged at him with it's jaws wide open, teeth bared.

Kristoff could hear the bone-chilling chomp the bear made.

Yet he felt no pain…

Peeking through his eyelids, his eyes flew open to see Ignus standing in front of him.

He then very nearly keeled over at the sight of Ignus' arm within the jaws of the bear.

"Ignus!"

The black-haired man looked towards the bear, shaking with what appeared to be pain. But then he turned around with an exhilarated smile on his face.

"I can't believe this is working."

He pointed to his frozen arm, which the bear had bitten down on. It had not a single dent in it.

Anna's eyes practically bulged. "It's like armor!"

Kristoff nodded in bewildered agreement.

The bear, unfortunately, had realized that the chomping strategy was not working. So it went for the 'shake-it-around-until-it-dies' strategy.

Lifting Ignus clean off the ground by his arm, the bear flung him around wildly, stomping around the cave as it did.

"GAAH!"

"YEE!"

"WHOO!"

"NAAH!"

The panicky noises Ignus made during this would have been very funny had he not been in such dire peril.

Kristoff, mesmerized by this sight, rattled himself and quickly cut through the last ropes binding Anna's hands. She smiled in thanks, and then ran with him towards the exit of the cave.

Isen stood by looking extremely anxious as she watched Ignus fend off the bear. He was only using his frozen arm as a shield, blocking the ferocious bites and swipes of the mother bear. But every time he tried to move away, the bear would come within inches of removing a limb.

"Isen!" Ignus yelled to her. She looked at him in antsy worry.

"Listen, you need to GAH! Okay, easy, easy, mrs. Bear, just trying to AAACK! Okay! _Miss_ Bear! Sorry! Isen! Get outta here! While it's focusing on me!"

"But Ignus…!"

"I can burst outta here no problem just as soon as you guys are clear of the cave! That way it has no one to attack anymore! Head back to the riverside! EEEK!"

Ignus focused on the bear again as it savagely bit his arm again, attempting to get to his fleshy non-magically-protect body.

Isen hesitated, but understood. She turned and ran over to Kristoff and Anna.

"Let's go! Ignus has a good plan!"

Kristoff and Anna both looked ready to argue, but Isen gave them both a pleading look.

They relented and ran out of the cave.

Ignus, seeing that they were out, slowly backed away from the bear.

He could immediately see that the bear would be having none of that.

It charged at him again, and in his panic, his mind shot to where he could burst to.

Screwing up his face in concentration, he yelled as fire exploded outwards from him. He felt the familiar, exhilarating sensation of speed as he flew through the air as a flash of light.

Alone in the cave with her cubs, the mother bear looked around angrily.

Then she snorted once, as if to say 'good riddance'. She slowly walked back to her three cubs. They had stopped crying, aside from the one with the dart in its paw. The mother bear pulled it out, and the cub stopped crying.

She curled up with them, but kept her eyes open for the rest of the night.

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Elsa practically flew as she ran towards Anna and hugged her.

"Anna! You're safe!"

Anna laughed as she hugged Elsa back. "Oh, come on Elsa. It's not like a big, mean, ferocious mama bear could take down your good old sister here, right?"

Elsa bit back a skeptical laugh as she said. "Of course not."

She looked around at Kristoff and Isen. Then she stopped.

"Where's Ignus? He ran in to check on you three!"

Kristoff walked up to her quickly.

"He's fending off the bear but _let me finish-" _He said quickly as Elsa started to panic "He's bursting out of the cave. He was waiting until after we left so the bear wouldn't chase us."

Fraxinus gave Kristoff a look of derision. "Burst?"

"It's a thing he does. Kind of like teleporting." Anna said to him.

Fraxinus put a hand on his eyes and sighed.

"But…he should have appeared by now!" Elsa exclaimed worriedly.

Then they heard a loud bang.

Looking to their right, they saw a cloud of smoke lingering above the river.

Then they heard a splash. Ignus had appeared directly over the cold river.

His head poked out of the water, arms flailing weakly.

Elsa remembered the night that he had fought the Channel, and how he had nearly drowned in cold water.

"The water! It's too cold for him!" She shouted as she ran to the river's edge.

Kristoff grabbed a huge branch and dragged it towards the riverside. Looking at Ignus, he yelled "Grab ahold!"

And with great effort, he flung the branch out into the water, keeping a firm grip on it's end.

Ignus was able to raise a hand and hook it around the branch. Kristoff immediately began pulling him in to shore.

Once he reached the sand, Ignus slowly crawled towards them. Elsa ran down and helped him up.

"Are you okay?"

"F-f-f-fine."

Ignus looked at Kristoff.

"Th-th-thanks, man. That w-would've b-b-been bad."

"Don't worry about it. Thanks for that save with the bear." Kristoff responded, smiling.

"I helped too!" Isen exclaimed happily.

Anna smiled lovingly at Kristoff, kissing his cheek. "That was brave of you."

"Considering how scared I was, I agree with you." Kristoff said, putting an arm around her shoulders.

Anna's face then darkened. She looked like she had remembered something.

"What is it?"

Anna looked at them all. "I know who did this."

"Yeah, it was those two jerks that have kept attacking us, right?"

"Yes, but…I know who they are."

Silence.

"There was this guy…Fenrir Wickerman-"

"Wickerman?!" Elsa said suddenly.

Ignus looked at her. "You recognize that name?"

"Yes…I'll explain later. Anna, who was the other person?"

Anna looked down. Her eyes began tearing up.

"Anna?"

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

"So what did you say to that girl, anyway?"

"Nothing that concerns you."

"Ah, c'mon. I'm not usually nosy but you've been crazy secret ever since I met you, man."

Fenrir and the man in the helmet had been walking for a ways. They had left as soon as Fenrir had finished rigging the trap in the cave. "Just in case." he had said.

"And it'll stay that way."

Fenrir smiled.

The man noticed. "Does nothing upset you?"

"I know, it's weird. It's just so _refreshing _to see people like you and the princess."

"You don't have a shred of reason within you."

"Reason? Tut-tut-tut, my perplexing partner, reason is the enemy. Reason is filled with _don'ts_. I'm a man of _do's_."

"Hmph."

"So what did you tell her?"

The man groaned.

"I told her everything would change."

"Aah, right."

"I showed her my face as well."

"Whaaat?! Oh, come ON. You can't do that to me."

The man remained silent.

"Oof. Cold-hearted, man."

"So I've been told."

The man seemed to be contemplating something.

"Fenrir."

"Hmm?"

"I'm not like you. I live for one reason only."

"And what would that be?"

The man was silent for a moment.

"Another chance."

Fenrir grinned. "Suppose there are worse things, my cantankerous companion."

"Stop calling me those names."

"Then what do I call you?"

The man stopped. Fenrir looked at him with raised eyebrows.

The man sighed.

"Hans."

"My name is Hans."

End Chapter 13


	15. Chapter 14 - Baggage

**Author's Note – Huge breath of relief for actually being able to surprise some people with that reveal. Also a bit of maniacal laughter.**

**Pow! Right in the kisser. I do not own Frozen.**

Chapter 14 – Baggage

"No way."

Kristoff pretty much summed up what everyone was thinking.

"It…it couldn't be…" Elsa looked like her brain was readily presenting every reason why what Anna had just told her must be false.

"I know it was him. He sounded like him, he looks the same…" Anna looked up with angry, hurt eyes. "…he's still as evil as he was."

Ignus had been silent. He was thinking hard about what he had just heard.

Ignus had never met Hans, but from what he heard, the guy was not a great person.

"Why is he messing with us?" He asked himself.

"He has quite a few reasons, actually." Kristoff said bitterly.

"No, that's not what I mean. Yeah he's got a grudge against you guys, but from what you told me, he's diabolical. He's a schemer."

"Yeah?"

"So it seems to me like there's more to this than just attacking us." Ignus said, thoughtfully.

"He wanted to hurt us before! Why wouldn't he do it now?" Anna challenged.

"When he and that other guy kidnapped you, they could have finished you right then and there. Just like that. But they didn't…they left you in a cave. And they planted a trap as well. They expected us to come and look for you."

"Why would they do that? Just to distract us?" Elsa said in confusion.

Suddenly Ignus' eyes lit up.

"That's it! They wanted to distract us! We were supposed to go and find Anna while they got ahead of us!"

"Ahead of us? What do you…oh!"

"Exactly." Ignus' face darkened. "They're after the same thing we want."

Anna's mouth fell open. "Hans wants Isen and Fraxinus' magic?!"

"It's definitely something he'd do. Power-hungry jerk." Kristoff growled.

"Well, that's a relief."

Fraxinus had spoken up.

"If he's looking for the same cave we are, then we've got nothing to worry about."

"And why is that?" Elsa said, raising an eyebrow.

"Have you all forgotten about the barrier? The thing that's protecting the magic from _people who'd misuse it_? Remember that little detail?"

A silence fell as Fraxinus' words rang bells.

"Oh yeah…" Anna said quietly. "Well, it's fine then! It doesn't matter if they get there first!"

"No, I disagree." Ignus said, cautiously. "These guys know about the cave, they know about the magic inside it, and they know about you two."

He pointed at Isen and Fraxinus.

"I don't think they'll miss something as crucial as a barrier like that. And even if they did, we can't take that chance."

"He's right." Elsa agreed. "Regardless of whether they can get in or not, reaching Isen and Fraxinus' magic first is essential."

Fraxinus grumbled. "Wise words yet again fall on deaf ears…"

"But they have a huge head start on us!" Kristoff reminded them, ignoring Fraxinus. "We need faster transportation."

He looked hopefully at Ignus, who was suddenly looking like he was having an argument in his brain. Ignus noticed Kristoff's gaze.

"If you're referring to my 'bursting' thing, it's not gonna work. It's only me and I need to have a very clear picture of where I'm going."

He turned away, pacing. He suddenly looked very nervous.

"I have an idea. We need horses."

Anna raised her eyebrows. "Wow, never thought we'd see the day where Ignus suggested we take horses!"

"Hmph." Ignus responded as he stood still. After a few moments…

"There's a town nearby. I've been to it a few times. We can probably find a few there."

"Alright then." Kristoff said, clapping his hands. "Lead on."

Ignus nodded and turned the opposite direction. The group followed him.

Elsa walked up beside him.

"How do you feel?"

Ignus exhaled. "Dizzy. Hang on a second…"

He shot out a stream of fire.

He then shook his head around. "That's better."

"If you need anything-"

"I know, Els." He turned and smiled. Then his face went into a curious state.

"You said you recognized the name 'Wickerman'?"

Elsa remembered suddenly. "Yes! That's a royal name!"

"Royalty?! That guy?!"

"Well, not exactly. Maybe. Let me explain. The Wickerman family is a very, very old family. They go back longer than even my family's royal history."

"But the eerie thing about them is the men in the family. Throughout their entire history, with every couple, the same thing happened. A prince from the Wickerman family married a woman who desperately loved him."

"Um…okay?"

"Hang on, I'm getting to it. Every couple had children until a male heir was born. And right after they did…the father, or rather the prince, went insane and perished."

Ignus did a double-take. "Wait…what?!"

"I know. It's one of the biggest mysteries in our time."

"Every single one?"

"Yes. Every male heir to the Wickerman name."

"Do you think that maybe Fenrir is one of those fathers? And maybe he somehow skipped out on the death part?" Ignus asked darkly.

"It's possible. From what Anna said, he certainly seems like a lunatic."

Ignus looked ahead again.

"Why's he helping Hans?"

"He seems to live by a rule of spontaneity. Doing what he wants, when he wants, and for no particular reason. I don't think we'd find an ounce of logic in that man."

Ignus nodded.

"Where are we going, anyway?" Elsa asked him.

Ignus was quiet for a moment, and then answered.

"It's a small place called Winter's Hearth."

"Winter's Hearth? Sounds like an interesting title. Sounds like you and I in a ways." Elsa smiled at him.

Ignus chuckled softly. "Yeah, actually. Never thought of it like that. Anyway, it's a quaint little town, and it welcomes travelers. But…"

The frozen side of Ignus' face gleamed as he turned to Elsa.

"They're very cautious around suspicious characters. I don't think they'll react well to my condition."

"Alright…so what do we do?"

Ignus sighed. "Unfortunately…"

He waved his hand, and a smoky blaze formed around his upper back. A cloud extended from it and raised itself over Ignus' head and in front of his forehead. It solidified.

Elsa felt her heart sink a little at Ignus' hooded face.

He smiled as he put on some freshly-conjured gloves. "Brings back memories, doesn't it?"

Elsa gave him a sad smile. "Yes, but I much prefer to be able to see your cheekbones."

"I know. I do too, but this is only temporary." Ignus held her hand.

Elsa looked at his eyes, glinting through his shadowed face.

She sighed. "Alright. Let's get the horses and get out, then."

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

After about an hour, the group found themselves gazing at a quaint town. There were a good number of houses and a few street lanterns.

Anna smiled. "It looks wonderful."

Isen sighed. "They all look so happy."

Fraxinus started walking again abruptly.

Kristoff sighed. "Of course…"

They all followed him down the road.

As they entered the town, Elsa couldn't help but look around. She hadn't been around much, aside from a few royal trips for negotiations, and Corona of course.

This was one of the rare chances she had to visit a rural town. There were a lot of people on the streets, from merchants and customers, to a few children kicking a ball around.

All the houses and shops were lit with bright lanterns, and there was audible laughter and chatter in almost every one of them. The buildings were old but stable, and there was a certain cheer in the air as snow fell from the sky.

"Winter certainly doesn't seem to bother them much." Elsa said in amusement.

Anna nodded, beaming at the life around her.

"So, where should we go to buy some horses?" Kristoff asked.

Ignus was silent.

"Ignus?"

"Huh? Oh, right. Let's start at the stables. There're usually a couple extra horses the guy's willing to sell."

"You know a lot about this place!" Isen chirped.

"Yeah, well I've been here a lot." Ignus answered quietly, so only Elsa heard him.

After a few minutes, Ignus led them into a house that had a sign outside it saying, "Richardson's Stables".

There were quite a few people in the shop, looking at the assortment of animals. An elderly man was tending to a few horses.

Upon seeing them, he smiled and walked back to a table.

"Hello, there. Name's Richardson. Can I help you?"

Elsa stepped forward. "Yes, I hope. We were looking to purchase some horses."

The man sat back. "I've not as many horses as I used to. I could sell them, but I'd have to raise the price a bit…"

"I don't think that will be a problem." Elsa said, confidently. She always carried some money with her, just in case.

The man raised an eyebrow, then shrugged it off.

Then he took a closer look at Elsa's face.

"I haven't seen you somewhere before, have I?"

Elsa was unsure of how to respond.

"W-well…perhaps you-"

"My god! Queen Elsa of Arendelle!" Richardson's eyes shot open as he sunk into a low bow.

Elsa was used to this, but it still made her uncomfortable to see people in such awe of her. "Please, there's no need to-"

She looked around.

"-be so-"

She faltered.

"Formal?"

Everyone in the stables was looking at her. But not in interest or reverence.

There was nothing but fear and anger in their eyes.

Elsa paled.

There was a sudden movement, and everyone left the stables, exiting through the back door.

Elsa and the rest were left alone with Richardson.

Elsa felt hollow confusion. People were afraid of her? An old fear poked its ugly head out from a corner of her brain…

Anna walked beside her and put a hand on her shoulder in concern. Elsa felt the fear withdraw a bit.

Kristoff looked at Richardson. "What was that all about?" He said indignantly.

Richardson sighed. "I'm sorry about that. The whole town's been afraid of magic and such for a while now."

"Why?" Isen asked. She looked like she knew what Elsa was going through. She must have had people afraid of her powers in the past as well.

"Well…" Richardson leaned against the table. There was sadness in his eyes.

"A little more than ten years ago, we had an incident."

Anna furrowed her eyes. "What kind of incident?"

Richardson closed his eyes solemnly. The he spoke.

"One of our village's large farms, along with wonderful couple of owners, was burned to the ground by their son."

Anna, Kristoff and Elsa all felt their minds come to a crashing, screeching halt. Elsa felt like he heart had been put in a presser.

Ignus was laying his hands lightly against his chin. His face was invisible in the shadow of his hood, and he was sitting as still as a statue.

"Or at least…that's what they say." Richardson said. "See, the kid could control fire, much like you could control ice, your highness. He was a hit in our village, and everyone loved him. We even renamed the village because of him. It used to be Winter's Clutch, but because of his fire and warmth, there was never a freezing day here. Hence Winter's Hearth."

Anna's eyes were tearing slowly, though she was clearly trying to keep it in. Kristoff swallowed. Isen's hands were on her mouth. Even Fraxinus looked sorrowful.

"But one day his fire went out of control. It destroyed the farmland and the lives of his own parents."

Ignus' hands were shaking.

"People were scared. They didn't want him around, fearing for their own lives and families. So he ran away. Apparently, his fury didn't stop there, as we heard sometime later that he had completely destroyed the living of a local Duke, everything from his house to his products."

Anna could take no more. "It wasn't like tha-!"

"Anna." Ignus said quietly.

Richardson looked confused. "Something wrong?"

Elsa could have spent the day explaining how wrong things were.

But looking at Ignus, she knew he wanted to keep things quiet.

"Are you sure?" Elsa whispered, so only Ignus could hear her.

Ignus nodded.

"Anyways…" Richardson started again. "That's what happened. Me, I say the past is behind us and we should all move on. But these are hardy, stubborn folk. They don't forget easy. And they forgive even less so."

Silence fell in the shed, aside from the soft noises of the animals.

Anna then let out a small sob.

Richardson noticed and gave her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, miss. Didn't mean to upset you with that tale."

Anna tried to compose herself, with mixed results. "I-it's fine. Just…I feel bad for that boy."

To everyone except Richardson, it was obvious that she wanted nothing more than to run to Ignus and hug him.

"Yeah…well, as I said, it was a long time ago." Richardson replied.

"Yeah." Ignus said. All eyes went to him.

"He's probably moved on too." He shrugged weakly. "It may have been hard for him to do, he probably had to go through a lot, but maybe he did it in the end. Maybe he finally found some happiness, some comfort. Maybe even someone."

Richardson raised an eyebrow. "Bit idealistic, don't you think?"

Ignus smiled softly beneath his hood. "It'd be nothing short of a miracle."

Elsa was now sharing Anna's urge to throw her arms around Ignus.

"But…we should probably get back to the matter at hand." Ignus said rousingly. "Can we buy some horses?"

Richardson smiled. "Absolutely."

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Ignus, Elsa and the rest rode through the Town of Winter's Hearth on three horses, Ignus and Elsa on one, Anna and Kristoff on the other, and Isen and Fraxinus on the third.

It had taken a while for them to get going, as Anna had refused to let go of Ignus for a whole five minutes. Kristoff had put a hand on his shoulder. Isen gave him a small snowy sculpture of a bird, which Ignus accepted with an amused smile.

Elsa waited until she was alone with Ignus on the horse before asking him.

"Are you alright?"

Ignus exhaled.

"No…no, I'm not. Not at all. But I could be worse."

His amber and silver eyes looked at Elsa with obvious pain. "I was gonna tell you, but I figured you'd find out sooner or later."

Elsa leaned against him, putting an arm around his neck.

"I think that boy turned out alright too."

Ignus continued looking at her eyes.

"He probably even saved an entire kingdom, along with leading an army, saving a child from a burning house, and befriending a giant snowman. He might even be loved by a Queen."

Ignus gave her a sweet smile. "Alright, the third-person stuff can stop now." He said playfully.

Elsa smiled back. "Okay then. _I_ love _you_, Ignus."

"That's better." Ignus said, though Elsa could tell he was red in the face.

Smiling contentedly, she gave him a kiss and looked ahead. She noticed something.

"Ignus, is this the way out of the town? I don't recognize this road…"

"We're taking a little detour, if it's okay." Ignus said stoically.

"Ignus, is this the way out?" Kristoff called over. It seemed he had noticed as well.

"Making a quick stop, my friend." Ignus responded.

"Last time I checked, we're in a hurry?" Fraxinus called over. "Weren't you all the ones who stressed that fact?"

"Frax, anyone ever tell you how lovely a person you are?" Ignus called back.

"More people than those that have complemented your humorous skills, that's for sure."

Elsa winced. _Ouch._

If Ignus was bothered by the comment, he certainly was hiding it well.

After a few minutes, the group came to the outer part of town. As Elsa looked around, she saw that they were in a large plain, covered with a small layer of snow.

In front of them were two evergreen trees, standing side-by-side.

"That's a strange place for trees to grow." Anna said in curiosity.

Ignus slid down from his horse. Elsa followed suit.

Kristoff was looking at the trees, intrigued.

Then it clicked. He looked at Ignus with sorrowful eyes.

"Ignus, is…is this...?"

Ignus didn't look back. "Yeah. These are my parents' graves."

Anna put a hand to her mouth. Isen's lip trembled. Fraxinus stared solemnly.

"They planted them after I left. Pine trees are the strongest trees, especially in winter…I think it's great."

Elsa simply held Ignus' hand as he walked towards the trees.

Ignus looked at her. "Just want you to know, I may talk to them…I know it's dumb, but-"

"It's not." Elsa said instantly. She had a compassionate look in her eyes. "I've done it many times."

Ignus nodded. He removed his hood, which disappeared in fire. His face looked weary.

"Hey Mom…Dad. It's me again."

"Hope things are okay with you…wherever you are. Heaven, Valhalla, whatever. I just hope there's good food. Otherwise Dad'll never rest in peace."

He chuckled to himself.

"Anyways…I figured I should maybe introduce you to Elsa."

He put an arm around her waist and held her close.

"She's a Queen. I blame you for that, Dad. Told me all the time to never settle for less than the best…well, I think I might've nailed it for once. She even likes my puns! You know she's a keeper then, even you two couldn't stand them…" He laughed and smiled over at Elsa, who had a lump in her throat the size of an egg.

"She also can use ice…opposites attract I guess. Though we're kind of in a weird spot concerning powers right now…" He scratched his frozen face.

"But I think it'll be okay. My luck's been pretty good as of late. Best in my life, actually. Makes up for about a decade of bad karma."

He was silent for a few moments. Elsa moved a bit closer to him.

"So…" Ignus' voice broke. "Just-just want to say 'Hi', and that…I miss you guys. So…so damn much…"

He looked down, shaking. Elsa pulled him into a hug, feeling some tears at her own eyes.

Ignus exhaled heavily, like he was trying to breath out his sorrow. After a minute, he withdrew, shaking himself.

"Hoo…okay. Alright. We're good." Ignus said, his eyes slightly red.

Elsa, not really knowing what to say, simply kissed him.

After another minute, they broke apart. Ignus seemed to look better.

"You should do that more often. It helps." Ignus said jokingly.

Elsa smiled. "Noted."

He looked back at the trees one last time. "Alright, Mom, Dad. Wish me luck. See you later."

He and Elsa were about to walk away from the graves when Fraxinus and Isen both walked up.

Ignus was about to say something when they simultaneously held out their hands. Magic formed in both, and after a second they both held a single, shining flower. Fraxinus' was glowing red like a rose; Isen's was a frozen daffodil.

Ignus was choked up. He looked up at both of them with grateful eyes.

"Well…I didn't expect this from you, Frax."

"The living are to be ignored, teased and humiliated, kid. But the dead are to be respected." Fraxinus said, solemnly.

Isen smiled and nodded in consent (more with the last part than the first).

They laid the flowers in front of the trees. It was a lovely sight.

Isen and Fraxinus walked back to the horses.

Elsa looked at Ignus. "Are you ready?"

Ignus sniffed once more, shook himself, and grinned. Elsa saw the familiar fire in his eyes, even his frozen one.

"Absolutely. Let's go light an ex-boyfriend's hair on fire."

End of Chapter 15

**A/N – I've got a sneaky idea for a Q&A. If you've got any questions, let me know soon. I'll let you know where to look when I'm done with it.**


	16. Chapter 15 - Closure

Chapter 15 – Closure

_It has been two days since the events at Winter's Hearth…_

Fenrir was picking his teeth with a bone.

He had always had a problem of getting stuff stuck in his teeth. Which was strange, once he thought about it…

To combat this annoyance, he had since developed a habit of picking his teeth with whatever object he could. A bone, a sharpened stick, even his own knives at one point, though he had given himself a few scarred gums in the process.

"That's unsightly."

The man in the helmet, or rather, _Hans_, as he had finally said, walked up to Fenrir. They were hiding out in a local tavern, resting for a day after nearly 48 hours of travel by foot. Fenrir couldn't remember the name of the town.

To him, it hardly mattered.

Fenrir grinned as Hans sat down next to him. "I've always valued comfort over appearance."

"As evidenced by your hair, face, and overall smell." Hans replied cooly.

Fenrir chuckled, biting the bone in half.

"Feeling any chattier today, Hansy?" he asked with a devilish grin.

Hans looked ready to break the man's fingers.

"You're going to be lacking in both the comfort _and_ appearance department if you continue calling me that." He replied, narrowing his eyes.

"It's such a strong name, _Hans…_sounds like something out of a woman's fantasy."

Hans did not look amused. "So I've been told."

"Is that why you wanted to speak to that girl? Princess Anna? You two have a, uh, nudge-nudge wink-wink kinda thing? Watch out!"

Fenrir narrowly got his hand out of the way before Hans brought his gauntleted fist down on it.

"She was a means to an end."

"Until she spoiled everything, I believe?"

Hans looked at Fenrir in angered shock.

"News travels fast, dear Prince of the Southern Isles. Even us poor, unfortunate travelers catch wind when a Prince's plot fails…"

"I am no longer a Prince."

Fenrir raised his eyebrows. "Ah. Family didn't take it too well, then?"

Hans looked at the table. He looked like his stomach was tightened a few knots.

"We're not talking about this anymore."

"Oh, fiiiine."

Fenrir sat back, looking bored.

"Y'know, in an ironic yet admittedly predictable way, I kind of wish I didn't know you now."

Hans didn't respond.

"At first I thought you were just some crazy guy looking for powers, which was GREAT…but now you're just a guy trying to get revenge?"

He tut-tutted. "Disappointing, Mr. Hans."

"Then leave me be, if I 'disappoint' you so much."

Fenrir grinned again. "Nah, not gonna do that. It may be a bit less fun now, but it'll still be something worth seeing, I'm sure."

"Hmph."

They sat in silence for a while, Hans broodingly drinking, Fenrir twiddling his fingers and making passing remarks at people who walked by him.

Then Fenrir sat up a bit.

Hans noticed. "What?"

Fenrir narrowed his eyes and smirked in surprise.

"It would seem our friends have caught up to us."

Hans was still for a moment.

Then he bolted up from his chair and walked out of the bar.

"Whoa, hold on there, speedy!" Fenrir ran after him.

Hans stalked out into the town square. Fenrir ran in front of him.

"What're ya gonna do?"

"They must have acquired transportation…_Idiot_…" Hans said to himself, putting a hand to his forehead.

"Well, I don't mean to agree with you…"

Hans shot him a look. Fenrir looked at him cautiously.

"…but I agree with you."

Hans growled and put on his helmet.

"Where are they?"

"Oof, don't know that for certain. Just know that they're in town."

"Then we cover up. They stick out like sore thumbs. We'll find them."

"Then what?"

Hans looked up.

"Then we go to the backup plan."

Fenrir laughed in excitement. "Head-on, huh?"

With a flash, his wickedly sharp blades were out, twirling in his hands.

"Me likey. Give me a sec to set up a welcoming sign."

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

"And you really made _snow_?"

"A little bit, yeah."

"Wow…but I'm guessing it didn't do too much good for your arm?"

"Not at all."

Ignus and Kristoff were talking alongside the horses. Ignus had refused to sit on one for another second after nearly two days of riding. Kristoff, never minding a walk, decided to keep him company.

Ignus had just told him about the night by the river when he discovered that, although it was bad for his condition, he could actually replicate Elsa's powers.

"Does Elsa know?"

"Yeah, I told her about it on the way here. She was pretty shocked."

"Pssh. I don't blame her. All this magic stuff is making my head spin."

"Not a hard thing to do." Fraxinus called over.

"Are you eavesdropping now?!" Ignus asked in outrage.

"No, you two are just really loud."

Kristoff shook his head. He was actually smiling a bit.

Ignus raised an eyebrow at him. "You don't seem too angry."

"Nah, you get used to it."

Ignus chuckled. "I'm sure you say that about a lot of things, Mr. Mountain Man."

"Like what?"

"Like the job, the weather, the travel, the danger, the smell-"

"Oh, I don't want to hear that from you, sheep boy."

Ignus promptly dropped the subject.

Anna and Elsa were riding behind them on the horses. Anna giggled.

"What?" Elsa asked, though she was pretty sure she knew.

"I just like seeing them talk. They're really good friends."

Elsa smiled. "When they're not at each other's throats over the quality of their stench."

Anna laughed. Then she realized something…

"Is it weird that we're joking about how bad our boys smell?"

Elsa blinked. The she shrugged.

"I suppose. Then again, neither of us is exactly 'normal'."

"Can't argue that."

Elsa looked at Anna. Though she hid it well, Elsa knew when something was nagging her.

"Anna, is everything alright?"

"Hm? Yeah, I'm fine."

"Anna, you never say you're 'fine'…"

She balked for a second, realizing Elsa was right. Then she sighed in resignation.

"It's about Hans…"

Elsa leaned back in understanding. She was guessing he had been on her mind.

"Anna, you know this isn't your fault, right? You couldn't have known he'd come back and do all this…"

"I know, it's just…" Anna looked at Elsa.

To the latter's surprise, she looked angry rather than melancholy.

"I wish I had punched him harder."

Elsa burst out laughing. "You were concerned about _that_? You punched him off of a boat!"

"Well, yeah, but he deserves _waaaay_ worse now…"

Elsa chuckled, shaking her head.

"Well, if he decides to mess with us again, you have my permission as Queen to smack him in the face."

Anna grinned. "If my Queen doth command it."

They were still joking as they six of them entered the town square. It was late at night, so there were very few people out on the street. In fact, Elsa only saw two people sitting on a bench.

Ignus looked around. "What do you think? Should we take a break? Sleep here?"

"Oh, can we, please?" Anna begged. "My eyes are about to burst."

Isen scrunched her face. "From being tired?"

"Yeah." Anna replied.

Isen looked like she was going to ask how that worked, exactly, but decided against it.

"Well, on account of immediate threat of 'burst eyeballs', I vote we stay here." Ignus said.

"I think that's a good idea." Elsa responded.

Ignus walked towards an inn with Fraxinus and Isen. The he sniffed the air.

"Do you guys smell alcohol?"

Kristoff sniffed as well. He fanned the air. "Ah, man! That's strong."

"Maybe someone had too much to drink." Anna suggested.

"Maybe, maybe not. Who can tell?"

Ignus had just enough time to recognize the voice before a lit match went flying through the air. It landed at his feet.

The alcohol at his feet immediately caught fire.

Then it exploded.

Ignus was blasted backwards into an abandoned building, breaking through a window.

"Ignus!" Elsa shouted through the explosion.

After the fire subsided, Elsa saw the masked figure run straight after Ignus, into the dilapidated house. She saw the grin on his face.

_You…_

Fraxinus and Isen ran directly towards the house, following the man. Elsa, Anna and Kristoff followed, but stopped when another man jumped in front of them, holding a very nasty-looking mace.

"Sorry, your _majesty,_ but I'm afraid you'll have to leave them be for a while.

Elsa, through her panic, realized that she recognized that voice. Her eyes narrowed.

"Hans."

Hans removed the mask covering his face. His hair was longer than it used to be, and he had a scruffy beard that traveled from his sideburns. He looked like a wild dog, shaggy and untamed.

Anna and Kristoff looked ready to tackle him.

Hans noticed the rings on their fingers.

"Goodness, Anna, I knew you were heartbroken, but to be so desperate as to hook up with _him_?"

"I'll rebound my fist into your face!" Anna yelled, red-faced. Kristoff nodded, although he looked like he wished Anna had been a bit more clever with her comeback.

Elsa had enough. She raised her hands threateningly. "Don't test me, Hans. Leave us be, or I'll stop you the cold, hard way."

Hans smirked irkingly. "Oh, your majesty, if only you could follow up that threat. Well, I suppose you could, assuming you care little about your flame over there turning into a human ice carving."

Elsa's eyes widened. _How did Hans know?_

There was a sudden movement as Anna rushed to the horse behind her and pulled out Kristoff's guitar. She held it like a bat.

There was general bewilderment.

"I will knock you into next week if you take another step, Hans!" Anna warned, tensing her shoulders. Kristoff took a few steps away from her.

Hans almost laughed. "You haven't changed much. Still the hopeless optimist."

"And you're still the same mutton-chopped, power-hungry jerk." Kristoff retorted, standing next to Anna.

Hans sighed. "I really didn't plan on killing either of you, contrary to popular belief. Too much unwanted attention, and so much _less _than I wanted. But…"

He held up his mace.

"I'm quite flexible."

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Ignus coughed a few times. His head was spinning.

_Explosions are not good for me. Well, ones that I haven't created, at least…_

Inspecting himself, however, he discovered that he was mostly uninjured. Explosions wouldn't _kill _him, but they could certainly lay him out.

He looked at his frozen arm, which had some ash on it. It must have guarded him to an extent.

He grinned. _Useful little perk._

Then he remembered the situation.

Bolting up, he was about to run outside only to find Fenrir, grinning and insane-looking as ever.

Ignus clenched his hands. "This is getting old."

Fenrir cackled. "Maybe. But it's still fun for me."

Ignus drew his sword. Fenrir raised his eyebrows.

"Guessing it's not fun for you?"

Ignus' silence was ample response.

"Yeesh, fine then."

With blinding speed, Fenrir charged at Ignus, whipping out his two blades. They gleamed as they clashed against Ignus' sword.

Fenrir's attacks were frenzied and unpredictable, but Ignus' style of fighting was also based heavily on offense. Their skills were on par.

Blow after blow, parry after parry, Ignus and Fenrir jumped about the ruined room.

Fenrir finally saw an opening after Ignus tripped over a broken plank. He drove his blae directly towards Ignus' throat.

With a crack, his blade splintered and broke into pieces. Ignus had raised his frozen arm to deflect the blow.

Fenrir whistled as he retreated. "Handy."

Ignus nodded. "I know. It's how I got outta that alcohol-laced gunpowder you put on the street."

"Ah, you got that already! My idea. Get rid of that pesky, gunpowdery smell with a bit of good mead. Sneaky, eh?"

"Also ineffective." Ignus replied.

Fenrir shrugged, grinning happily. Ignus felt a rush of annoyance.

"I guess Elsa was right about that Wickerman inheritance of insanity. "

For once, Fenrir's smile flickered, though only for a second.

"Ah, her majesty knows of my heritage."

"Yeah. Apparently you're one of those insane fathers who skipped out on the death part."

Fenrir sniggered. "Yeah, that's me." He shrugged apologetically. "Dear old dangerous, deranged Daddy."

Ignus frowned. "Why are you helping Hans?"

"I think he's cool. Also because maybe us Wickermans have always had a fascination with magic."

"…what?"

Fenrir's green eye gleamed. "It's true. Wickermans have always had a interest in the arcane. Stuff that shouldn't be possible, brought to life before your very eyes! It's what it's all about, baby. Magic."

Fenrir grinned wickedly. "How do you think I was able to find you all the time? All those years of experimenting and research gives us a bit of a 'sixth sense'. We know when there's magic in the air."

"Wait…what?! How does that make sense?!"

"Haven't you learned by now that I'm not big on 'making sense'?"

"So…that whole speech you gave to Anna…it wasn't about 'spite' or 'freedom'…it was about magic."

"No, no, nooo, Magic is what I consider to be the greatest form of spite. You're defying the very rules of nature themselves! What could be more spiteful?!"

Ignus leveled his sword. "Me putting a stop to this here and now?"

"Eh…not really."

Fenrir's blade flashed as he dashed forward again. But he was then cut off by a stream of fire that shot by him.

He turned and narrowed his eyes, still smiling.

Fraxinus had his hand pointing at Fenrir, his eyes smoldering like an awakened volcano. Isen stood beside him with a resolved expression.

"You're the ones they so appropriately called 'spirits', I assume?" Fenrir asked.

"It doesn't matter what we are. You are meddling in something far beyond you, fool."

Fraxinus' words themselves seemd to heat the air. Even Ignus was a bit intimidated.

"I know. That's what makes it fun." Fenrir seemed even more excited than he had before.

Fraxinus' eyes then went white.

"Surrender." He spoke.

There was so much force behind the word that it seemed like he had shouted it.

Ignus stood beside Fraxinus as well, lighting his good arm.

Fenrir looked like he was just told he had won the lottery.

"Oooh, this'll be good."

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Hans was a good fighter. But what he had in technique, Kristoff had in strength.

Hans swung again at Kristoff's face, aiming to knock out a few teeth, but Kristoff held up his hands and caught the mace before it could hit him.

They struggled to gain control of the mace, when Kristoff decided to just give it to him.

So he spun around and threw the mace behind him, with Hans following it from the force of his throw.

Grunting angrily, Hans got back up and grabbed the mace.

"Ignorant buffoon." He growled at Kristoff.

He yelled and charged at Kristoff again.

Elsa was watching them fight, completely at a loss for what to do. She had her powers of course, and wanted nothing more than to help Kristoff, but every snowflake she conjured would quicken Ignus' demise.

She had no experience whatsoever in a fight without her powers. If she tried to help Kristoff without her magic, she would only get in his way.

She could have screamed from the frustration and anxiety she felt.

Anna, however, had other ideas.

Swinging Kristoff's guitar like an axe, she ran at Hans, emitting some sort of adrenaline-induced war cry. Had the situation not been so serious, Elsa might have laughed at it.

Hans kicked Kristoff away and lazily blocked Anna's wild attempt to brain him with the instrument.

"Sorry. No cheap shots this time."

He then grabbed her wrist and threw her aside into a pile of boxes, which collapsed and fell on top of her.

Anger in his eyes, Kristoff ran at Hans and lifted him off the ground, running into a nearby wall and crushing him against it. Hans felt the wind leave his lungs.

Kristoff reared back to throw what would have been a knockout of a punch when Hans swiftly kicked his leg, sending the mountain man to the ground. Hans followed up by kicking Kristoff again in the face, laying him out on the ground.

Elsa realized she could stand by no longer. She hoped Ignus would understand.

With a wave of her hand, two icicles shot from the ground and pinned Hans to the wall behind him. He struggled against them, but they would not move.

Elsa walked towards him, fury ethed in every line in her face.

"You're nothing but a monster!" She shouted at Hans.

Hans laughed weakly as he eyed Elsa. "Mr. Pot, let me introduce you to Ms. Kettle."

Elsa raised her hand again. "You're finished. "

"Ah, ah, ah! Remember that your boyfriend over there is fighting my partner. Wouldn't be too good for him to suddenly be struck with pain, now would it?"

"I trust him." Elsa said, but she hesitated.

"Of course you do! But you know, all Fenrir needs is one moment, one second of distraction…and it's over."

Elsa stopped. Her mind raced.

Unfortunately, that was exactly what Hans was looking for.

Bringing his mace up, he smashed it against the icicles keeping him in place. With frightening speed, he ran up to Elsa and put his hand around her throat.

Elsa gasped and choked as she fought to get him off her.

"Oh, don't worry. I won't kill you. We can't do that just yet."

He raised the mace. "But I can't say the same about your sister."

Elsa's eyes widened in fear.

Ignus or Anna.

She couldn't save both…

Suddenly, a loud _clang_ rang out into the night.

Elsa saw Hans' face snap into a very silly expression.

His grip loosened on her and he fell to the floor, unconscious.

Anna was standing behind him, breathless and holding a frying pan in her hand.

Elsa was at a loss for words.

Anna looked down at Hans. "It takes more than some boxes to keep _this _Princess down, pal."

"Anna, did you…hit him with a frying pan?" Elsa managed.

"Um…yes. I found it in the pile of boxes that fell on me."

"And…you hit him with it?"

"…yes?"

Elsa was silent. Then laughter burst from her body as she hugged Anna.

"Oh, Anna, never change. Ever."

Anna smiled and hugged her back. "Of course not."

"Ugh…"

"Kristoff!"

Anna suddenly remembered her husband and ran towards him, helping him up. He had a busted lip from where Hans kicked him.

Elsa winced. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Juft a little sfwowwen, that's aww." Kristoff answered.

Elsa took it as a "I could be better".

Anna kissed his lip. "It'll get better soon."

Kristoff smiled in thanks.

"And, by the way…that was really cool how you fought him." She said, raising her eyebrows a little.

Kristoff put a hand on the back of his head and laughed nervously.

Then he looked up.

"In'nus."

"Huh?"

"In'nus!"

Elsa and Anna looked at each other, totally baffled.

"Sorry, what?"

Kristoff looked away in frustration, then looked back.

"Phire! Phwozen arhm! In'nus!"

"Oh, Ignus!" Anna finally said. Kristoff pointed at her, as if to say 'bingo'.

Elsa paled. She had momentarily forgotten about him.

"Come on! We have to help hi-"

BANG

The abandoned house Ignus was blasted into exploded as a figure burst from it's windows, landing in a crumple at their feet, right next to Hans.

Fenrir groaned, several burns covering his body, with his hair burnt off at the ends.

Elsa stared back at the building. She saw three figures emerge from it.

Isen, Fraxinus and Ignus walked towards them. Ignus was carrying Fenrir's blade.

Ignus jogged over to Elsa and gave her a quick hug.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Me?! You were blasted through a window! Are _you _alright?" Elsa fired back, incredulous as she hugged him.

"Nah, you know me. I explode almost every day. I'm used to it."

Elsa laughed and let go of him. Together they stared down at Hans' unconscious form and Fenrir's twitching body.

A thought appeared in Ignus' head.

"So…um…what do we _do _with them?"

Elsa looked down. She was unsure herself.

"For now, let's lock them in prison in this town. We can transport them to higher security after we cure you." She answered.

"We're throwing them in jail?"

"It seems like the best course of action…why?"

"Nothing, just…" Ignus shrugged. "Bit cliché, don't you think?"

Elsa lightly slapped his arm.

End Chapter 15


	17. Chapter 16 - Crystalline

**Author's Note – Congratulations to Frozen for winning two Oscars this year. **

**Thank god.**

**Sorry about the lateness of this. Bringing the story into it's final stretch, so I expect to update quicker.**

**-TheStanfordExperiment**

**The heat and the cold are both so intense, put 'em together, it just makes sense.**

**I do not own Frozen.**

Chapter 16 – Crystalline

"These men are extremely dangerous, and I recommend assigning more security than normal for them. I've sent word to Arendelle for transportation back to my kingdom. You can expect my officers within a few days."

"Yes, your majesty." The Head of Militia answered formally.

Elsa had explained the strange situation to him and asked that he and his men detain Fenrir and Hans until her own officers could take them to Arendelle, where they had more security.

"Thank you." She walked away from the guard towards Ignus, who had put his hood back up to avoid attracting too much attention with his arm and face.

"Everything go smoothly?" Ignus asked.

Elsa sighed anxiously. "As much as it could have. Guards from Arendelle will be here within a few days. I just hope nothing happens until them."

Ignus shuffled. He looked conflicted.

"Els, we can always just stay here a bit longer…"

"Ignus, no. Fraxinus said that the sooner we remove the ice from your body the better."

"That's just him being impatient." Ignus answered.

Elsa blew a strand of hair vehemently. Ignus was only stubborn when it came to his own well-being.

"This is not up for discussion. Your health comes first!"

Ignus looked ready to argue. But, in a resigned voice, he agreed.

Satisfied, Elsa looked around. "Where's Anna and Kristoff?"

Ignus breathed in through his teeth, like he was about to say something displeasing.

"They went to talk to Hans."

Elsa thought her neck had snapped from how quickly she turned it.

"They did what?!"

"Anna wanted to talk to him."

Elsa immediately started walking towards the jail.

Ignus swiftly caught her hand.

"Hold on a sec, Els."

"But…but he's-!"

"I know, really I do. But this is Anna's decision. Kristoff and about ten guards are with her. She'll be okay."

Elsa thought about it.

"Fine. But I want to be just outside in case anything happens."

Ignus nodded. "I think we can settle on that."

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"Hans."

"…"

"Hans."

"…"

"Haaaaans."

"….."

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"WHAT?!"

"I'm bored. Talk to me."

Fenrir had been like this ever since they had been put in the prison. Hans was ready to break down the brick wall that separated their cells in order to throttle him.

"C'mon, it's too quiet."

"Fenrir, shut…up."

"C'moooooon."

Hans' furious retort was cut off as the door creaked open.

Anna walked into the room. She had a look of determination on her face.

Fenrir giddily chuckled. "This'll do just fine."

Anna walked up to Hans.

"Hans."

The ex-prince gave her a dark look. "Princess."

Anna crossed her arms.

"What do you want from my sister? Why are you after the magic?"

Hans sighed and leaned back. "Oh, goodness, Anna, I don't know, perhaps because I wanted more power?"

Anna narrowed her eyes. "It's always power with you, isn't it?"

Hans looked away. "Not so much anymore, no."

Anna was silent.

"I don't suppose you heard about what my brothers did to me?" Hans asked her.

Anna started. "Th-they exiled you. I heard about it from Elsa."

"No."

Hans turned back around.

"I wasn't exiled. I was erased. From my family, from my history, from everything I had known. I was the black sheep, the shame."

His voice was venomous, but Anna could have sworn she heard anguish.

"I was invisible. All thanks to you and your precious Ice Queen."

Hans looked away again.

Anna didn't know what to say. What Hans had done was selfish, evil and unforgiveable.

But this seemed like too much.

"Hans…just…try to-"

"Don't lecture me. I'd rather listen to the scratch of a chalkboard."

Anna's sympathy weakened.

"If your family was so important to you, maybe you shouldn't have tried to kill me and my sister!"

Hans laughed harshly. "There it is. The real feelings. You don't feel sympathy, you feel anger and rage. And shame."

He leaned closer to her. "Tell me, Anna, how awful was it when I locked you in that room?"

His only response was an angry and very hurt look.

Hans smirked and looked away.

Anna considered saying more, but realized she had nothing left to say.

"Goodbye, Hans."

Giving Hans one last look, she walked away.

Kristoff and Elsa were waiting outside. Kristoff immediately put a hand on her shoulder.

"Well?"

Anna sighed sadly.

"I hoped maybe he'd feel some sort of regret, but…"

Elsa held her hands.

"He's in the past."

"But…" Anna looked ashamed. "That's just it. He'll always be a part of my past…"

"I know, Anna. I have things I wish weren't a part of my past too." She smirked. "Care to take a guess as to what they are?"

Anna laughed softly and wiped an eye.

"But we learn from it, I guess. We move on. Just like I did, and just like you have." Elsa said warmly.

Anna's lip was trembling as she nodded her head. "Right. Thanks, Elsa."

Kristoff put a hand around her shoulder, smiling broadly.

"Are we all good?"

Ignus had walked up, Isen and Fraxinus next to him.

"I'd like to leave soon. It's been a while since I've let loose some fire, and I don't think I should do it in a town…"

"No, no, you're right! We're ready!" Anna responded hastily. "Let's get you fixed up!"

Ignus nodded appreciatively, looking very relieved.

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"Well, that was interesting."

Hans sighed as Fenrir started up again.

"I was enjoying the silence."

"Well I wasn't." Fenrir responded immaturely.

"So…family didn't take it too well, huh?"

Hans considered staying silent, but he figured that'd only cause Fenrir to become even more annoying.

"No. They didn't. As you heard."

"What'd your brothers say?"

"Nothing nice. Something along the lines of "_Never thought you were part of this family anyways_."

"Oof. Nice guys."

"They're my family. Where do you think I got my warm, fuzzy side?" Hans asked sarcastically.

"Yup. So…what are you gonna do to them?"

It was quiet in the dingy jail.

"When this all goes to plan, what happens to your family?" Fenrir repeated.

"I don't have a family anymore. Didn't you hear?" Hans said quietly.

"They, like everyone else, will fall into place."

Fenrir shuddered with anticipation. "Can't wait."

"Speaking of which, when can I get us out of here?" Fenrir asked.

"As soon as they leave."

Fenrir nodded to himself, twirling the bone he kept on him at all times.

"You've got it ready, right?" Hans asked.

Fenrir grinned. "Course I do."

He reached into his mouth and pulled out one of his molars. Well, more accurately, the small red crystal that _appeared_ to be a molar. It sparkled as he held it up.

"Good. We'll move on my say."

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It had been about two days since they had imprisoned Hans and Fenrir when Elsa, Anna and company finally reached their destination.

The six of them galloped up to what appeared to be a solid rock wall along a mountain.

Kristoff looked at it a moment.

"Okay…I know it looks like it's just a rock wall, but I'm gonna go ahead and guess that it's not…"

"Smartest thing I've heard you say yet." Fraxinus responded, sliding off the horse and walking towards the wall.

Isen followed him. She looked very excited.

"Ooh, I can't wait! I'll be able to remember everything, and build giant snow animals again-"

"You are never creating another snow animal as long as I live." Fraxinus responded.

Isen gave him a raspberry.

Fraxinus ignored her and put a hand on the rock wall in front of him.

"Okay. Your majesty. You and the quasi-popsicle over there come here."

Elsa obeyed. Ignus did as well, with reluctance.

"Put your hands here." He instructed. "Miss Anna, if you and your husband could put a hand on Elsa or Ignus' shoulder."

Anna and Kristoff did as he said, albeit with confusion. Fraxinus and Isen then put a hand on Ignus and Elsa as well.

"Now step into the wall."

Ignus gave him a look.

"Yes, I'm serious. Do it."

Ignus looked at Elsa and shrugged. They took a step forward, into the wall.

It was like getting struck by lightning.

Ignus felt energy course through his body like wildfire. It was exhilarating and terrifying. He couldn't move, he couldn't think straight.

"KEEP MOVING!" Fraxinus shouted.

Elsa grit her teeth and took another step forward. Kristoff and Anna followed, evidently not expirienceing what Elsa and Ignus felt.

Ignus took another step. It was like an enourmous force was pushing him back. Somewhere in his raging mind he realized they had walked clean through the rock wall.

He took one more step and suddenly felt the energy leave his body. He collapsed onto the ground, breathing hard. He heard a second thud and realized Elsa had probably done the same.

"What happened?! Are you two okay?" Anna said worriedly, trying to help Elsa to her feet.

"That was the barrier blocking us off from the magic." Fraxinus answered solemnly.

Ignus sat up groaning. "Aaaah, I didn't like that…"

"Sorry…" Isen said, looking very guilty.

"A little warning would have been appreciated." Elsa said, rubbing her head.

"Anyone ever teach you that the best way to get in a cold pool is by jumping?" Fraxinus replied in his usual fashion.

"Oddly enough, I've never really had problems getting into cold pools." The sarcasm in Elsa's voice was on par with Fraxinus'.

"Hey, uh, guys…I don't know if you want to keep arguing…but you _really _should see this." Anna said, looking away.

Ignus followed her gaze. His jaw dropped.

They were inside a massive, beautiful room. The rock walls had been carved into amazing patterns, and the ceiling was adorned with a blue hue (Isen's doing, Ignus guessed).

There were large pillars with gold platings at the base and crimson streaks traveling up them. Sensational ice sculptures were placed around the edges of the room, and there was a gorgeous chandelier with blue and red crystals glittering at each end.

It was very quiet for a while. Everyone was too star-struck.

"This…this is…" Anna's eyes were in danger of expanding past their physical limit.

"Incredible." Kristoff finished her sentence. He looked the same as when he had beheld Elsa's palace for the first time.

Isen was trying to contain her excitement, but simply couldn't.

"Welcome to our home!" She squealed as she ran forward, dashing between the pillars, running up to each of her ice sculptures and chattering excitedly to herself as she inspected each of them.

Fraxinus let out a satisfied breath.

"Happy to be home?" Anna asked him.

Fraxinus looked like he was considering a stinging response. But instead, he merely shrugged.

"I'm just glad I have my books back."

"You read?" Elsa said, surprised.

"Literacy is the only art to be respected, your majesty." Fraxinus responded, pointing to his right. Elsa saw that he had an enourmous bookshelf, littered with ancient books.

Her face lit up. "These books must be a thousand years old!"

"More than that." Fraxinus responded. "People used to give them to Isen as gifts, but she's not quite the sitting-still type." He pointed at the white-haired girl, who was now swinging from the chandelier, with a very anxious Ignus standing underneath her.

"But most of these books are my own." Fraxinus said casually.

Elsa's eyes shot to him. "You _wrote_ these?"

"When you keep to yourself, you have a lot of spare time."

Elsa smiled at the magnificent sight.

"Amazing."

Fraxinus gave her a sideways glance. Then he shrugged.

"In any case, on to the reason we're all here."

"Right!" Isen exclaimed from her perch on the chandelier. She hopped to a pillar and skillfully slid down it.

Kristoff's eyebrows shot up. "That was pretty cool."

"I've done it a hundred times." Isen said humbly, but Ignus could hear the pride in her voice.

"WHOA."

Anna's voice was full of wonder. It was easy to see why.

Fraxinus was walking towards the end of the room. Before him were two enourmous, spectacularly glowing crystals, very near each other.

One was blue, the other fiery orange.

Ignus whistled. "I guess that's where your magic is?"

Fraxinus nodded.

"What _are_ those?" Elsa asked, poiting at the gleaming stones.

"These are very rare crystals. They're the only objects that can contain magical power. Some call them 'Divine Earth', others call them 'Sun and Moon Pieces'."

"Or Fire and Ice crystals!" Kristoff exclaimed, suddenly realizing the familiarity of the stones. "I've seen them where my troll family lives!"

Fraxinus gave him a long look.

"Troll Family." He repeated back to Kristoff.

"Yeah. So?"

"Nothing. Just explains a lot." Fraxinus said. Kristoff did not look amused.

"But you are correct, trolls are among the few creatures that can actually create these crystals. Usually they're just for show because of their luminescence, but if Isen's or my powers are infused into them, they act as a sort of storage device."

He looked back at the enourmous stones. "Isen and I created these a long time ago, just in case something happened to us. Others discovered what we made and tried to replicate it. Few succeeded."

"Wow…" Ignus took a step towards the stones.

"Ah, dah dah. No touching. Magic travels easily between crystals and us. If you're not careful you may zap all your powers into it accidentally."

"And that'd be bad."

"From what I have gathered, yes."

Ignus looked at his frozen arm.

"And…once you get your magic back you think you can fix this?"

Fraxinus looked at him, expressionless.

"It's the best chance you got, kid."

Elsa felt a tight knot of anxiety. Ignus merely nodded.

Fraxinus looked at Isen. "Are you ready?"

Isen nodded with determination.

They stepped towards the crystals, raising there hands.

Then a small, fiery pouch landed in front of them.

In a blinding flash, the bag exploded, causing Isen and Fraxinus to rapidly back away from the crystals, shielding their eyes from the piercing light.

"What-?" Fraxinus yelled.

"What's happening?!" Anna exclaimed.

"What I said would happen."

The voice that spoke was as chilling as his words.

"Everything you know is changing."

Hans stood before them, Fenrir at his side.

Before anyone could react, he flung his arms out and put his palms against the two crystals. They flashed.

There was a loud crackling sound as Hans fell to his knees, magic shooting out from the crystals into his hands.

"NO!" Fraxinus shouted, running towards him.

Fenrir cut him off, leaping forward and driving his knee into Fraxinus' stomach. The elderly man coughed and doubled over.

Isen shouted something and shot a large block of Ice at Fenrir, who dodged it, picked up Fraxinus and threw him at Isen, knocking her down.

Ignus couldn't believe what was happening. He drew his sword and charged at Fenrir, who drew his at the same time.

Ignus swung his blade, aiming for Fenrir's arm, but Fenrir stopped it mid-swing with the very tip of his blade.

Ignus' eyes shot open. "What the-?"

Fenrir grinned. "I might've held back a bit before, Cindershoes."

And he slammed his fist into the fleshy, vulnerable side of Ignus' face.

Ignus staggered, but Fenrir wasn't done. He kicked out Ignus' legs from under him and kicked him in the chest hard. Ignus fell on his back.

Elsa, at her limit, let out a yell and shot a bolt of ice at Fenrir, who caught it on his blade. It immediately froze over and shattered.

Elsa readied another when she heard Ignus' strained groan.

She paled. "Oh god, Ignus, I'm-"

"Don't worry! Just stop him!" Ignus shouted.

Fenrir threw aside the hilt of his blade and dashed towards Elsa. She panicked and sent another streak of blue at him, but he dodged it yet again, and hit her with the back of his fist, sending her to the ground.

Ignus let out and enraged exclamation and jumped to his feet, flames pouring from his good arm. He shot a stream of fire at Fenrir, who jumped away. Ignus then raised a column of fire right where Fenrir was standing. He barely got away with only his shoe aflame.

Fenrir grinned once again, baiting Ignus, who readied another shot.

Then Fenrir's eyes shot to his side.

"OH, NO YOU DON'T!"

He threw a small, smoking ball towards Ignus' right, where he saw Anna and Kristoff were running at Hans, trying to stop him. The ball exploded into what Ignus recognized as sleeping gas, which Anna and Kristoff disappeared into, coughing loudly. Ignus heard two slumps as they fell to the gorund, unconscious.

Ignus was too distracted by the scene to see Fenrir run up to him and hit him on the back of the head with his blade's hilt.

Ignus' vision blurred as he fell to the ground.

"Wh…what…?"

Fenrir smiled. "How many times do you think I've been arrested? Very poor decision to leave me alone. Although, as I just demonstrated, you all don't really stand that much of a chance against me. We needed you though, so I had to play nice for a while."

He walked around. "That was close, though! Had we arrived any sooner we may have been too late to interfere. Close call."

"How did you get in here?! The barrier…"

"Oh, you're gonna love this." Fenrir reached into his mouth and pulled out a tooth. Well, what _looked _like a tooth. But it was actually…

"Fire crystal." Fenrir said proudly. "Chock full of your magic after you fought me in that collapsed building. It was just enough to slip Hans and I inside."

Ignus' head spun. _How does this guy know so much?!_

"But, I think the explanations can wait." Fenrir said, looking at Hans.

Ignus, with a jolt of panic, realized the loud crackling had ceased.

Elsa had as well. She had a look of pure horror on her face.

Hans was still on one knee, but Ignus could feel the power from where he lay.

He looked up and opened his eyes. They flashed brightly as they sizzled with energy.

Hans stood up tall, the magic and power of Isen and Fraxinus swirling around him like a terrible storm.

Hans held up one of his hands. His eyes were full of satisfaction. He grinned broadly and flung his arm out to the side.

A flash of fire flew from his arm, destroying a nearby sculpture.

"No…" Elsa whispered.

Hans laughed in amazement. The ground around him had begun to freeze over and crack, while the air became hot and dry.

"This…is just wonderful." He said quietly.

He then looked at Ignus.

"Not so much for you, I'm afraid."

Ignus felt the last bit of hope fly from his body.

End Chapter 16


	18. Chapter 17 - Succumb

**Super-fast Update Powers GOOOOOOOOOOOOO  
**

***ahem***

**Still don't own Frozen**

Chapter 17 – Succumb

Ignus felt like an idiot.

He knew they should have stayed to keep an eye on these two.

And now his only chance at survival had been snatched away by the good Ex-Prince himself.

Ignus lifted his head to look at the fearsome sight before him.

Hans' eyes were glowing slightly from the power radiating off of him. There was a vague, dark purple aura around him, and the ground at his feet was iced over.

Fenrir's eyes were wide as dinner plates.

"Now THAT'S interesting." He said with glee.

Hans looked at his hands, smiling faintly.

"I can see why this power terrified you at first Elsa."

Elsa had stood up, a faint red mark on her face where Fenrir had hit her. She looked despondent.

"It's overwhelming…there's limitless potential here. But such danger as well." Hans breathed incredulously.

"But unlike you, your majesty…I'm not afraid of this."

His hand shot up, raising a pillar of ice underneath Ignus stomach. It sent him flying backwards.

"No!" Elsa yelled, shooting another bolt of ice at Hans. It him him dead-on.

Yet the ice covering his face simply melted away, falling in drips at his feet.

"I'm afraid we're on two different levels now, your higness." Hans said smugly.

With another flick of his hand, an enourmous burst of fire erupted from the ground, spiraling around Elsa until it became the shape of a cage.

Fenrir whooped. "THAT'S what I'm talking about!"

Ignus coughed and finally got to his feet. Glaring at Hans, he drew his sword and charged at him.

Hans almost lazily raised his hand again, and the floor at Ignus' feet became Ice. He slipped, but kept on his feet, firing a blast of heat at Hans, who raised a wall of ice, stopping it short.

Ignus yelled, and a burst of fire exploded outward around him. When it subsided, Hans saw that Ignus was gone.

He smiled, looking around cautiously.

"Is this your little trick again? You should know that I'm not fooled twice by the same TRICK!"

He accented his last word as he caught the re-appeared Ignus by the throat as he lept at him from behind.

He smiled with arrogance. "It's already over for you, you realize that correct?"

"Can't be sure of that just yet, can we?" Ignus managed to choke out.

And he breathed fire from his mouth, catching Hans in the face with it. Hans let out an annoyed grunt and threw Ignus ten feet away from him.

Elsa managed to evade the flames caging her and ran over to Ignus, helping him up.

"Thanks." Ignus said, coughing.

Elsa couldn't speak.

"I know, I know." Ignus responded. He was thinking about how his lifespan had just significantly dropped as well.

"But right now we focus on him. Okay?"

Elsa stared at him for a moment, then nodded.

Hans laughed and shot a purple bolt of energy at the pair. Ignus instinctively grabbed Elsa and shielded her behind him.

But the magic exploded instead onto an wall of ice directly in front of them.

Looking to his left, Ignus saw Isen with her hands up, frost falling out of them.

"How dare you!" Isen yelled furiously at Hans, summoning a frightening amount of icicles and firing them at him.

Hans raised a wall of fire in front of him, melting them before they could hit him. He then shot both his hands outward, and an enourmous burst of fire rocketed towards Isen, who managed to summon a small ice wall.

The fire smashed through the wall, knocking Isen to the ground.

Hans was clearly enjoying his powers. "Not good enough, I'm afraid!"

He was cut short by a blast of fire hitting him in the arm. He grunted and angrily looked upwards, where Fraxinus was leaping with agility between the pillars of the room.

Fire flew from his hands and lashed around Hans, who raised a hand, recoiling from the fiery whips. With a look of anger, Hans slammed his foot to the ground, and ice shot out from his feet, covering the walls, crawling towards Fraxinus.

He attempted to dodge it, but the speed at which the ice flew from the wall was too great. It caught him in the shoulder and leg, knocking him out of the air and down to the ground, where he lay motionless.

Ignus looked around, desperate. Their odds were falling greatly.

Then he remembered an old trick.

"Elsa! Remember that day on the roof at the Dam?"

Elsa looked at him with confusion. Then it dawned on her.

"Right…of course!"

She held up her hand towards Hans, while Ignus did the same.

Then Elsa faltered. "Ignus, your body…I can't…"

"Elsa, if we don't stop him, I won't have a body left to worry about. Neither will anyone else!"

Elsa hesitated still.

Ignus squeezed her hand. "No sacrifices. Remember?"

Elsa said nothing.

Then her hand raised next to Ignus, ice swirling around it.

Fighting through the pain he felt, Ignus let what fire remained in his body build in his arm.

Hans noticed, however.

"Too late!" He shouted, letting loose a colossal burst of ice and fire.

Elsa shut her eyes.

The she re-opened them when she realized she was in mid-air. Ignus had summoned a pillar of ice at his feet, shooting them upwards.

"NOW!" he shouted.

A purple bolt of energy crackled and shot from their outstretched arms.

It flew towards Hans and hit him square in the chest.

An explosion rang out through the destroyed cavern.

Ignus and Elsa landed. Elsa was breathless.

"Did it work? Ignus do you think he's-"

She stopped when she saw him.

His entire face was ice, save for his left eye, which still had it's usual amber hue. His body had almost entirely frozen over.

"No. No, no, no, noooo…" Elsa moaned, putting her hands on his face.

Ignus sighed and smiled at her. He tried to say something, but nothing came out. The ice had frozen his vocal chords. He was amazed he could still breathe.

Elsa thought she couldn't feel any worse.

The universe, however, has a cruel sense of humor.

There was a clutter in the smoke cloud in front of the two.

To their horror, Hans emerged from it, his clothes ripped, but he himself unharmed.

"You think you can stop me with magic? I have more magic in my body than both of you combined! What do you think you can do?!" Hans laughed.

"It doesn't stop here. I wanted power all my life, Queen Elsa. I was just looking in the wrong place. The throne is merely for show. With THIS…" He held up his hands. "I can conquer NATIONS!"

"Arendelle will be the first. I will show them why ice is to be feared once again. Then the Southern Isles, my brothers…until everyone lives in fear and respect of me. I will NEVER be invisible again."

Elsa clutched Ignus, trying to find comfort in his arms. Everything was crashing down around her.

Hans looked at Ignus. An evil grin spread across his face.

"I've already broken one royal heart. Shall we try another?" Hans asked Elsa.

And he raised a fist of ice from the ground, which grabbed Ignus and held him in the air, slowly crushing him.

"How tough is that ice covering you, Ignus? Let's find out!" Hans exclaimed, squeezing his fist.

Ignus grunted quietly as the fist around him clenched, crushing him.

He heard Elsa's cry, but she wouldn't dare use any more magic. Instead, she ran at Hans, who blew her to the other side of the room with an icy gust.

Ignus felt himself breaking apart.

He struggled against the fist, but it was too strong.

_Not without a fight. _Ignus thought. _I'll struggle to the end._

He closed his eyes, still trying to push ouwards, but succumbing to the icy fists grasp. His breath shortened.

Then, quick as a flash, the fist stopped.

Ignus opened his eyes. The ice had stopped crushing him.

Not wasting a moment, Ignus punched it with all his might. The ice on his arm shattered the fist into pieces.

As Ignus fell to the floor,his mind raced with confusion.

_How the heck did that just happen?!_

He whirled around at Hans, ready for a fight. But Hans didn't look ready to fight anyone.

He was looking at his arm in alarm. Blue light was shooting out of cracks forming in his skin. Magic shot from him uncontrollably.

"What the-?" Hans shouted, trying to utilize his powers, but they were beyond his control. Fire lashed out around him, setting fire the the gorund.

"What is this?!" He shouted once again.

"Oh dear."

Fenrir's voice had never sounded so malicious.

"Oh dear, dear, dear."

He had appeared next to Hans, looking dissaprovingly at his deteriorating figure.

"Looks like you have a bit of a problem there, Hans."

Hans looked at him furiously. "Why is this happening?!"

"Well…you have enough magic in you for two spiritual beings. That puny body of yours ain't enough to hold it, sunshine."

Hans eyes widened in shock.

"You…you said….you're LYING!" He yelled at the grey-haired fiend.

Fenrir shrugged. "I lied when I told you you could handle this power. I'm not lying now."

"But don't worry. There's an easy solution."

Hans doubled over, the magic shooting out form his body more.

Unfazed, Fenrir continued. "See, if you had a more powerful body, or if you will, a more powerful soul, you could contain that magic just fine."

"How…does that….HELP ME?!"

"Simmer down. Er…no pun intended. Anyways, fortunately for you, you've got a powerful soul right here."

He held out his arms, indicating himself.

Hans blinked incredulously.

"Have you actually, truly lost your mind?"

"No. I've been using it for quite some time. Running into you, getting you to chase after this magic, entering this tomb, wielding it inside you. That was all me. That was all part of _my _plan."

"But…unfortunately, that's the most you'll ever hear about it. No time left." Fenrir said with an air of regret.

He stepped towards Hans.

"What are you doing?!" Hans screamed, shooting fire at him.

Fenrir, with almost blinding speed, dodged the balst and dashed up to Hans, putting his palm on his head.

Hans looked at him with absolute hatred. "You...you sonofa-"

"You see, when you live for as long as I have, you learn a few magic tricks. A lot of tricks actually. But there's one that's my favorite, Hansy. One that's got me through _quite _a lot."

His eyes sparked with insane excitement.

"Possession, baby."

And his eyes went dark purple, the color of midnight.

Hans' eyes did the same, as he screamed out into the cavern.

Toxic-looking purple energy swirled around them, as magic flew out all around them.

Ignus ran to Elsa and covered her with his armored skin.

After about a minute, the swirling stopped.

In the subsiding cloud, Ignus saw a figure stand up.

Hans was standing exactly where he had been a minute ago. Fenrir had disappeared.

But as Ignus looked closer, he saw something was wrong.

Hans' hair was grey. His eyes were dark green.

Just like Fenrir's were.

He then grinned. In the way only Fenrir could.

"Aaaah…wow, this is cool." The grey-haired Hans said with amazement.

"No."

Fraxinus had at last regained consciousness.

"Impossible."

Hans shook with glee. "I know, right?! Totally impossible, yet here I am! I love it."

Elsa's mouth was agape. "Is…is that…Fenrir?!"

"No."

Fraxinus had never looked so afraid.

"Fenrir never existed. He never lived. It was him. It was all him, every bit of it."

Isen's eyes were wide. She had a look of utmost horror on her face.

Ignus felt his world turn upside down as he made the connection.

The man before him grinned again and bowed low.

"I am the human who fought these two long ago."

He looked up, his eyes sparking with power.

"And I'm back for round two, baby."

End of Chapter 17


	19. Chapter 18 - Initium Magica

**I don't own Frozen.**

Chapter 18 – Initium Magica

"Oh, YES."

The man before Ignus walked around, holding up his hands. He shot fire and ice with sheer precision at the walls. There was no magic erupting from his body.

Elsa recognized his look. It was similar to the one she wore after she thawed Arendelle.

Only his face was warped with insanity.

"I LOVE it!" The man shouted.

Ignus stood up, staring at the man with horror. His frozen face contorted with shock.

Elsa saw him try to make a sound, but a soft breath was all that came out.

The man snickered. "Well, that's unfortunate. Having trouble talking?"

Elsa ran over to Ignus and helped him stand. She looked at the man in half-terror, half-anger. "Who are you?!"

The man exhaled in thought. "Quite the question, highness. I've been around for a long time. It's a bit hard to remember. I like the name 'Fenrir' though. Kind of appropriate, don't you think?" He flashed his trademark grin.

"His name doesn't matter."

Fraxinus was beside Elsa. His look was grave.

"He was the one who attacked Isen and I all those millennia ago."

Fenrir shrugged with mock guilt.

"How did you survive the blast?!" Fraxinus said angrily.

"Same way you did." Fenrir replied simply. "I was blown into little, tiny pieces."

"Impossible. You are a human. Isen and I only survived because we're higher beings."

"Well, don't blame _me _for this little exception." Fenrir said. "You two were the ones who shot me full of magic."

Isen's mouth fell open. "You mean-"

"Yyyyup. That magic snagged onto me, same way it has to your dear popsicle over there." He gestured to Ignus. "The explosion only destroyed my body. The rest of me ended up the same way you two did."

"Then...you were-!"

"Aimlessly drifting across the world, yes. It was cool at first, but it got old _real_ quick. So…I found a way out."

Elsa's mind clicked.

"The Wickermans."

"Someone get her a star! Exactly, your majesty. I found myself able to take over the form and mind of another person. So I picked a man of royalty. Why not, right? It was a good life for a while, one of royalty and riches…but that's not what I wanted."

"You still wanted our magic." Fraxinus narrowed his eyes.

"I could feel it. It was all there, waiting for me to get it. But, then I found out about your pesky little barrier. Oh, you should have seen me then, I was about to blow my stack."

"But good things come to those who are patient. I devoted the rest of my life to finding out just what happened to you two, and how I could get back to your magic. It took me quite a few lifetimes to finally get some progress. In the process, the Wickermans became famous for their devotion to the study of magic."

"That's why there were always widows in the Wickerman family!" Elsa exclaimed.

"Right again. I always made sure to court myself a good woman who'd give me some strong children, and then I'd simply wait for the first boy. I figured staying In royalty would aid my research, since money and power would never be a problem.

"As you can imagine, when I jumped from one person to the next, it didn't leave the former in the best condition. They had control of their mind and body for the first time in their lives. It didn't do them too good."

Elsa scowled in disgust.

"But, we must sacrifice for our research." Fenrir sighed with pretend anguish. "And after much too long, I finally discovered the key to your little shield. Your own powers were the only thing that could surpass them. So I only had to wait until you two returned. But it took you so _LONG_…I had almost given up, until I heard about our dear Snow Queen here."

He smiled at Elsa.

"Only then did I realize what was gonna happen. You two can't possess like I can because you're not human. But with her majesty and Cindershoes here…they have little pieces of you inside them already. They could bring you back just fine. They could make you whole."

"So then all I had to do was to find someone I could persuade to wield the magic, someone who'd do anything to get a shot at power."

Ignus' face darkened.

"Hans was practically a godsend. He was broken, bitter and furious perfection."

"After that, it was just a matter of not giving the game away. I had to pretend like I didn't know where we were going, that I didn't know what was going to happen."

"It's also why I didn't kill your sister, Queen Elsa."

He looked at Anna's unconscious form. Elsa looked rapidly from her to Fenrir in fear.

"Had I done that, you and Ignus would've taken much too long to find the magic here."

His smiled faded into a look of indifference.

"But now…"

Ignus and Fenrir moved at the same time.

The bolt that seared from Fenrir's hand collided with Ignus, whose frozen body withstood the blow, shielding Anna from harm.

Elsa gasped and ran over. Fenrir laughed in the background.

"Guess you can't magic a guy to death when he's not really a guy anymore!" He shook his head, amazed at Ignus' condition.

He stopped laughing when a fireball exploded fiercely into his chest.

He did not make a sound, but merely looked at Fraxinus' smoking hand with interest.

"Hmm. I thought that'd have hurt more."

Fraxinus was obviously shocked at his magic's ineffectiveness, but he shook himself. Firing several more blasts of heat at Fenrir, he charged towards him.

Elsa was supporting the silent-but-cold Ignus when Isen crept towards them.

Elsa didn't know what to say. She felt a hollow emptiness.

But Isen looked as serious as Elsa had ever saw her.

"Fraxinus has a plan." She said quietly over the noise of Fraxinus' and Fenrir's battle.

"The crystals can act as storage for magic, but they can also act as bridges. If we can get Fenrir up against one of them and keep him to it…"

"You can elicit your powers away from him!" Elsa breathed.

Isen nodded.

Elsa found it hard to believe in this idea. She found it hard to find anything hopeful when Ignus was in such a state…

Ignus then put a hand on her face and turned it to look at him.

He couldn't speak, but Elsa saw in his one, true amber eye a familiar and comforting energy.

His fire was fading, but that didn't mean his confidence had.

Elsa looked over at Anna and Kristoff's unconscious figures.

"Isen…could you…?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah!"

Isen conjured a sheltering igloo-type shield around the pair.

Elsa nodded a thank you, looking back at Fraxinus and Fenrir.

It was entrancing to watch. Fraxinus' fire danced with ferocity and grace as it lashed out at Fenrir. It coiled like snakes at his feet and struck out, while other flames burst from the floor, forcing Fenrir to constantly jump around the floor of the cavern.

However, Fenrir's motions were those of an adult humoring a child. He had a wide, entertained smile on his face throughout Fraxinus' assault.

Finally, after an especially powerful explosion of fire from the elderly being, Fenrir counterattacked with a swift motion. Ice shot from the floor and catapaulted Fraxinus through the air.

Fenrir then held out his arm like he was aiming a slingshot.

"Pew!" He shouted.

A bolt of ice shot from his hand and struck Fraxinus mid-air. He fell to the ground, motionless as ice spread from him, fusing him to the floor.

Fenrir stepped over to him. "Oh, Fraxy you were so much more powerful back in the day! Now your just kinda…" He searched for the right word. "Old."

Fraxinus managed to look at the man and spit hatefully. "Return my power and we'll see how even the fight is."

Fenrir gave him a "Well, can't do _that_" kind of look, and turned to face the other three.

"Next, please!"

Ignus made a movement, but Elsa stopped him.

"Why do you want this power so much?"

Ignus looked at her impatiently, silently communicating _Making him talk won't help_!

Elsa's eyes communicated back _Trust me_.

"You obviously have no real motivation, no reason, not logic within you. Why do you want such amazing powers, then?"

Fenrir laughed. "You just answered your own question, boopsy!"

"He's insane." Isen said, in a shockingly serious tone. "Just like he was back when he…back when…"

She put a hand to her head, trying to remember more, but her memory was still failing her.

"Ah, insane's really just a word for different-minded." Fenrir said, tut-tutting. "I'm just not as driven by morals as you all."

"You're not driven by anything." Isen spat.

"Which is why I should be the one with these powers, don't you think?" Fenrir grinned.

"Is that a joke?" Elsa said, not sure whether the man was being serious or not.

"Course it is, I don't deserve these powers. Which is why I want them."

Elsa narrowed her eyes.

"Why is spite so appealing to you?!"

"WHY ISN'T IT TO YOU?!"

Fenrir's voice had risen to a scream. Elsa and Isen were stunned by his outburst.

"Why do people just walk in and out of their homes every day doing nothing but what others say should happen?! Why don't people act out, get crazy, let their inhibitions go and for once be something REAL! I lived in a village where even the most insignificant deviation from tradition was met with shame and disgust."

"I searched for years for the answer to my question. But I found nothing. Nothing but prison time and the disgust of others. I was seen as a menace. And then I realized I was alone in my state of mind. No one else in my life would think the way I did, act the way I acted. It was just me."

"Until I heard about the 'spirits'."

Fenrir's voice was now quiet.

"Beings with powers incomprehensible. They looked at nature and spat on her rules. They took society and throttled it's suffocating burden."

"I had found them…people who could _understand me_…who could tell me that _I WAS RIGHT…_"

Fenrir stopped talking, chuckling madly into his hand.

"But…but what do you think happened next?"

Elsa was at a loss for words.

"Tell me. What do you think?" His tone was quiet and calm, but Elsa could sense the underlying horrors it held.

"Isen. Dear Isen, would you tell her what happened?" Fenrir continued.

Isen also had a look of fear on her face. She shook her head.

"You know I can't remember."

"No, no, c'mon, tell her. Tell her what happened."

"I just said I can't! I don't have my-"

"Tell her now."

"What do I have to do to-"

"TELL HER!"

Fenrir's screech echoed through the cavern as Isen was blasted back by a ferocious burst of fire.

Elsa had barely enough time to look back at Isen's figure and gasp when Fenrir appeared before her.

"THEY HELPED THOSE TRASH! THEY USED THEIR POWERS, THEIR _GIFTS_, AT THE WHIM OF THOSE IDIOTIC DRONES! THEY BUILT BOATS AND HOMES AND MADE SEASONS AND BROUGHT LIFE AND _BENT THEIR KNEES TO THOSE WHO WERE SO FAR BELOW THEM!"_

Froth appeared at the sides of Fenrir's mouth. Elsa tried to retreat, but he grabbed her arm, howling into her face.

"THEY…who possessed the powers to LEVEL MOUNTAINS AND RUPTURE SEAS…REFUSED to use them for anything other than WHAT WAS TO BE EXPECTED OF THEM!"

Elsa was more horrified than she ever had been in her life before the raving lunatic.

Fenrir was about to continue his rant when an icy fist collided with his face, sending him flying backwards.

Ignus' expression was that of a ferocious dragon. He put an arm around Elsa and held her close to him, challenging Fenrir to try and come that close again.

Fenrir slowly got to his feet, laughing wildly while rubbing his jaw.

"Oof…nice hit, Iceman. Guess that stuff's good for something!"

Ignus gave Elsa a look that said _It's working_.

Elsa nodded, still shaken by Fenrir's frightening shrieks.

Ignus frowned back at Fenrir's rising figure. Magic swirled out around him.

"Let's see how tough that ice is."

Ignus cracked his neck, communicating a clear _Bring it_.

Fenrir shot a blast of fire at Ignus, who did not even attempt to block it, instead charging through the flames. They slid off of him harmlessly.

Reaching Fenrir, Ignus swung at him several times, with the nimble maniac dodging them all. They kept going at it. Fenrir blasted Ignus with more and more magic, but Ignus' body was too corrupted to be affected by more magic.

Ignus, after forcing his way through another blast of fire, managed to grab Fenrir's jacket and deliver a devastating blow to the face of the grinning man. Fenrir staggered back, but only for a moment.

He then spun back around and grabbed Ignus' face, clutching it in his palm.

Ignus mouth opened in what surely would have been a yell. Fenrir was crushing his skull.

With desperation, he kicked Fenrir's stomach, relinquishing the hold on his head. Ignus jumped away, holding his head.

Fenrir looked over at him, a hand on his gut, and grinned again. He opened his palm.

Elsa gasped. There were a few broken shard of ice in his hand.

Ignus' face was cracked.

"Magic-proof, but fragile, it seems." Fenrir said mockingly.

Ignus narrowed his eyes, unfazed.

Elsa surged forward, but Isen stopped her. She silently signaled towards the crystals on the far side of the room.

Fraxinus was lying in wait near one. Elsa understood what was about to happen.

Ignus charged at Fenrir once again, but this time picked him up by the stomach, charging at the crystal.

He slammed the maniac against it. Fenrir coughed and elbowed Ignus in the head, trying to get him off.

Then he saw Fraxinus place his hand on the crystal.

"What the-?"

The crystal clashed bright red as light enveloped the bodies of Fraxinus and Fenrir. Elsa could see magic fly between them.

Fenrir let out a strangled shout. The magic was coursing out of his body, slowly yet surely making it's way towards-

"_NO!"_ Fenrir screamed.

And the crystal exploded in a massive blast.

Elsa shielded her eyes as the force of the blow flew past her, nearly knocking her over.

When she opened her eyes back up, the crystal had vanished entirely. Not even a fragment remained.

But Fenrir did.

He was holding Fraxinus by the throat. Ignus was lying motionless next to them, with even more cracks in his body due to the explosion.

Isen's eyes shook. "No way…"

Fenrir looked at the two ice-wielders.

"Excellent idea, you two. But I'm afraid putting me up against that crystal was a bad idea…you can take magic from me, but I can also pump magic into it by myself, and wouldn't you know it, that crystal can only take so much…"

Fraxinus groaned. He was bleeding from his mouth. He looked older than ever.

With a cry of anger, Isen ran at the lunatic in blind rage.

"Isen, no-!" Elsa shouted.

With laziness, Fenrir raised his arm. A pillar of fire erupted from below Isen, engulfing her in the flames.

"NO!"

Isen fell to the ground, her body lying still, covered in burns.

"You…you evil-!" Elsa looked furiously at Fenrir.

"Oh, yeah. I'm evil. But you know what else?"

He walked over to the second crystal. Elsa froze.

"I'm also smart enough to know not to leave this one here as well."

And the second crystal exploded.

Elsa stood completely still.

They had nothing. No way to defeat him.

No crystals, no magic, no spirits.

Nothing.

Fenrir walked towards her, slowly, tauntingly. He tossed aside Fraxinus like a sack of potatoes.

"Just you and me, now, huh?"

Elsa had no idea what to say. She couldn't do anything.

Attack, and she lost Ignus to the ice inside him.

Do nothing, and Fenrir won.

Hopelessness clutched at her heart like an icy claw.

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I won't kill your sister." Fenrir said, shrugging. "I'm not after lives here. Just general chaos and madness."

Elsa simply glared at him. If nothing else, she would defy him to her last breath.

"But I do have to kill you, your majesty. Here and now."

Elsa breathed slowly, every muscle in her body strangely relaxed.

"Leave Ignus be."

"Oh he's fine. He couldn't do anything to me anyway, the state he's in, but you…you might cause problems. And I can't have that after all this."

He took another step forward. Fire gathered in his hand.

Elsa looked down and closed her eyes.

Ignus' faced flashed in her mind.

_I love you_, she thought. Maybe Ignus could hear it somehow.

_Anna_.

Her heart ached. She only had just gotten her sister back…after so long…

_It's not fair_.

A loud shout shocked her eyes back open.

Ignus had jumped behind Fenrir, holding him in a headlock.

"Ignus!" Elsa shouted.

Ignus looked at her and pointed at something at her feet.

It was a small red crystal.

_Fenrir's fire crystal_.

Without thinking, Elsa grabbed it and ran at Fenrir.

She slammed the crystal against his chest, not entirely sure what would happen.

Fenrir growled in annoyance and kicked her away, across the hall.

Elsa landed hard, and looked back up, dazed, at the two men.

Ignus was looking at her with his mis-matched eyes. He was holding the crystal.

His eyes said everything.

"Ignus." Elsa said. It wasn't a question. It was a warning. A plea.

_What are you doing. Don't._

Ignus looked down at the ground.

_No sacrifices_.

He looked at his frozen body.

And he sighed.

_There's nothing left of me to sacrifice._

And he slammed his hand into Fenrir's face, the red crystal within it glowing brightly.

Fenrir yelled and tried to pry Ignus' hands away from the crystal so he could get at it and make it explode like he had the others, but he couldn't force any magic into it in his position.

Ignus' body started glowing.

Elsa was beyond words.

She stood up immediately and ran towards the two.

_Stop._

_Stop._

_Stop stop stop stop stop!_

But Ignus wasn't stopping. With a yell that no one could hear, he forced his own magic, along with the magic Elsa put inside him into Fenrir's body.

Magic flew from Ignus, through the crystal and into the struggling Fenrir, who was now raising a storm of magic all around him, attempting furiously to get Ignus off of him.

Ignus felt every inch of magic leaving his body. It was excruciating.

The ice, the fire…he was losing everything.

And Fenrir was getting it all.

The skin on Fenrir's arm began to crack, purple light pouring through them. His body was breaking apart at the overdose of magic. He couldn't handle any more. What was happening to Hans was happening to him.

Ignus kept going.

_Everything._

_Everything is going. _

_You are not coming back from this._

The ice on Ignus' body vanished, traveling down his arm and into Fenrir.

Finally, Ignus felt the last drop of magic leave his body.

He collapsed in a crumple next to the howling Fenrir.

Elsa sprinted towards them, sliding next to Ignus.

"Don't you dare, don't you DARE do this to me again!" She shouted at the unmoving Ignus.

Fenrir was running towards the front of the hall, magic pouring out of his body, rising into a frenzy.

And yet he was laughing.

"THOUSANDS OF YEARS OF PLANNING…A HOPELESS SITUATION…"

His voice boomed with uncontrollable power.

"AND YOU FIND A WAY TO WIN."

He gave Elsa one more grin. She knew it'd be his last.

"NOW _THAT'S _SPITE!"

And he let out a howl of laughter.

Elsa could barely hear him over the blood roaring through her ears.

Ignus was still not moving.

Fraxinus had said that Ignus couldn't survive without magic…

"No!" She said out loud, dispelling the thoughts. "Wake up! Wake up NOW you unbelievable idiot!"

She was about to scream more insults when Fraxinus ran over to her.

"What are you doing?! Run!"

Elsa blinked, still holding Ignus. Kristoff and Anna were next to him, finally awake, the former holding an unconscious Isen.

"Wh-"

"RUN!" Fraxinus shouted again.

Scrambling up, Elsa carried Ignus and followed Fraxinus out of the cave. Fenrir's body was disappearing in a brilliant, radiant light.

"What's happening?!" Anna shouted as they ran.

"A lot! Keep running!" Fraxinus responded.

"What do you mean?!" Kristoff yelled.

"HE'S GONNA EXPLODE! SHUT UP AND RUN!"

The four of them tore for the exit as a loud, ringing sensation filled their ears.

They burst from the exit and kept running.

Behind them, a massive explosion rang out into the night. Magic flew from the cave's entrance, rocketing towards them.

A bright light washed over them, and a great explosion rattled the sky.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Voices swam through Ignus' head.

And yet he could understand nothing.

He opened his eyes. The voices stopped.

He was sitting in a dark room. Well, he thought it was a room. But looking closer, he saw that it wasn't anything. He was simply sitting in a black nothingness.

He blinked a few times.

"Okay…" He said out loud.

Ignus got to his feet. Looking around, he saw only black. It should have terrified him, but he only felt a strange emptiness.

He needed more light. He raised his hand to create some fire.

Nothing happened.

Ignus looked at his arm in confusion. Then he remembered. The crystal, Fenrir, the ice and fire coursing out of him.

He remembered Fraxinus' words. He couldn't survive without magic.

"So…I'm dead?"

His words fell flat in the darkness.

Ignus now felt a creeping sensation of panic.

He was _dead_?

"Damn…" Ignus said to himself as he sat back down, putting a hand on his eyes, rubbing them in agitation.

He looked around more. Then he remembered there was nothing to look at.

Then another terrifying thought occurred to him. Was he going to _stay_ like this? Conscious and alone in this…void?

Would he never see Elsa again?

As soon as he thought her name, a small light appeared beside him.

Ignus stared at it in surprise. It was a tiny white flame. It produced no heat, but it seemed to emit a comforting aura.

He reached towards it, but it passed right through his hands. He was baffled.

Was this the magic Elsa put inside him, perhaps?

The little white flame grew a bit brighter.

Ignus noticed. He made the connection.

_Elsa_.

The flame grew brighter still.

"Elsa." Ignus spoke.

Again, the light brightened.

Ignus had no idea what he was doing, but he knew he wanted that flame to grow brighter.

"Elsa!" He said louder.

But this time, the flame did nothing.

Ignus looked at it in more confusion.

"Elsa. Elsa. Eeeeelsa. Elsaaaaa. ELSA."

Nothing happened.

Ignus turned away in frustration. This was nonsensical. He remembered what it was like back in the Obscuring Forest, where even his senses were addled.

Then the flame burned brighter.

Ignus turned on the spot.

The memory of the forest made it glow more?

"No…it's her…" Ignus said slowly to himself. His eyes sparked.

"I remember when I first saw Elsa when she walked down to the center of Arendelle before the avalanche."

The fire increased more.

"I remember when she first spoke to me and said 'Are you okay'!"

The fire was now growing rapidly.

Memories of Elsa flooded Ignus' mind, fueling the flame.

"I remember the castle! The walks we took! Her tiara and Marshmallow! Anna and Kristoff's wedding! The battle at the Dam! The talk we had in the alley! Our first kiss!"

The white flame was now larger than Ignus. It expanded outward, growing larger and larger. It enveloped Ignus and turned the surroundings around him white, chasing away the darkness.

"She is everything to me! She made me who I am! She's-"

The realization struck Ignus like lightning.

"…she's my magic."

There was a flash of light, and Ignus breathed again.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Ignus made a very unattractive sound as he gasped in a breath.

Anna nearly jumped a foot in the air. Kristoff made an excited noise.

Ignus looked up, breathing heavily and feeling like he had just been dunked in seawater.

"Whoa…what happened?"

Anna was about to say something when Ignus felt a very painful stinging sensation on his cheek.

Elsa had slapped him hard.

"Wh…huh?!" Ignus spluttered as he put a hand to his face in utter confusion.

Elsa looked like five emotions were all fighting for control in her head.

"I'm sorry!" She said honestly, looking amazed at her own action.

Anna's mouth was wide open. "Elsa! You _slapped _him!"

"What did I do?" Ignus asked weakly. Mistake.

He felt Elsa's hand connect with his face again.

"OW! Elsa!"

"Elsa!" Anna gasped.

"You…You _idiot_! You crazy, stupid, selfish idiot!" Elsa yelled at the completely frightened and confused Ignus.

It seemed she had decided on an emotion to feel. And unfortunately for him, it was anger.

"Do you have any idea what you do to me sometimes?! You're going to be the death of me!" Elsa's face was redder than Ignus had ever seen it.

"I was…I mean I wanted to-"

"To what?! Blow yourself up to save mankind or something?!"

"I mean…well, not _blow myself up_, but…wait, no no no I'm sorry I'm sorry!"

Elsa was wildly attempting to slap him again.

"Never-do-that-to-me-ever-again!" Elsa exclaimed as she hit Ignus over and over.

"Okay okay okay! Please stop hitting me!" Ignus cowered beneath his arms at Elsa's assault.

Elsa finally withdrew her arms and sat back, breathing heavily. Ignus poked his head out from his arms and dared to relax a bit.

Kristoff cleared his throat.

"Um…so, glad you're okay, buddy."

Igns looked over at his friend and gave him a weak smile.

"Yeah."

"And the ice is gone! You're all better!" Anna said to him, pointing at his arm.

Ignus followed Anna's gaze. Sure enough, his arm was as normal as it had ever been. The ice in his body was gone.

But…

Ignus snapped his fingers. Where there should have been a light on his thumb, there was nothing.

A soft feeling of loss settled inside him. So it was true.

"That's not all that's gone." He said solemnly.

"What do you me-oh. Oh no." Anna said, understanding.

Elsa looked at him with concern. Ignus smiled.

"You…you can't use your fire?"

Ignus sighed. "No. It's gone."

Then he realized something.

"Forget me! What happened to Fenrir?!"

"Ka-boom." Kristoff said simply.

"He couldn't handle the magic you put inside him." A new voice said. "It destroyed him from the inside out."

Ignus turned to see a man with a clean-cut face and brown hair behind him. He was handsome and fierce-looking. Yet his face seemed familiar.

Ignus' mouth fell open. "Fraxinus?!"

The man gave a "harrumph".

"Oh yeah, that's you alright." Ignus grinned.

He looked much younger now, about in his thirties. His clothes were no longer raggedy, they were magnificently made, with red and gold accents on the brown design. He looked like a king.

"He looks so much better, right?"

Ignus smiled as he looked at Isen, who appeared the same, but with a more energetic look to her. Her hair seemed to softly glow and her eyes shone even brighter.

"I assume you two got your magic back?"

Fraxinus nodded. "That was a good plan of yours. After the magic was released from his body, Isen and I were able to reclaim what was ours."

His expression turned somber. "But we couldn't reclaim yours. Only you could have, and you were unconscious."

Ignus exhaled.

Then he smiled a bit, realizing something.

"So my magic and Elsa's magic is flying around the world now? Kind of like how yours were?"

Frainxus shrugged. "It's impossible to tell. But perhaps."

"Then maybe someday two other people will have powers like us."

Fraxinus was silent. Then he smiled faintly.

"It's possible."

Ignus stood up, brushing off his pants.

"Well, that's something, isn't it?"

"I'll tell you what's 'something'." Fraxinus responded with a snort of skepticism. "The fact that you're alive."

Ignus blinked, realizing that he was absolutely correct. He had no magic in him. So…how was he here?

"Does it really matter?" Elsa said, standing next to Ignus and putting her arm around his. "He's okay. Can we just leave it at that for once?"

Ignus smiled at her arm. "Am I forgiven?"

"Oh, of course you are." Elsa said with an air of frustratedness, more at herself than Ignus. "But the cockiness isn't helping."

Ignus cowed. "Sorry."

"She's right, though!" Isen said brightly. "You're okay!"

"But…" Elsa said quietly. "Are you alright? With not having fire?"

Ignus contemplated the question.

It had been a part of him his entire life. It helped him survive and stand out, bringing as much pain as it did pleasure.

Then he looked at Elsa.

_She's my magic_.

"Yeah, I'll be okay. Are you good with it?"

Elsa held his hand and smiled. "It was never about your powers."

Ignus laughed and gave her a kiss.

Isen cheered and ran around excitedly.

"We have to make this memorable!" She squealed, as ice flew from her hands.

Fraxinus immediately noticed. "Isen. No. Don't, we've talked about this, don't-!"

An enormous whale made of snow appeared above their heads. It let out a magnificent call and flew around, Isen giggling like a child underneath it.

Ignus laughed and held Elsa close to him as they watched a man in his thirties try to melt a flying snow whale while a young white-haired girl shot ice at him.

Elsa looked at him. "We have strange lives."

"Can't argue with that."

They continued holding each other as the whale spun in circles above them.

End Chapter 18

**Author's Note - Writing this'll probably be the closest I'll ever come to giving birth. God, what a hassle.  
**

**Many apologies for the long wait, i hope it was worth it. Epilogue next. I know a lot of you are confused, but don't worry. Stuff'll be explained.**


	20. Epilogue - Eternal

**Author's Note – To the guest UD, and indeed to any and all who read my story:**

**You are absolutely free to doodle, draw, and/or paint a drawing of Ignus.**

**In fact, I encourage it. I love it when people draw Ignus, though only LovelySheree has done it so far.**

**I only ask that you keep it clean, try to remember my basic description of what he looks like, and send me a link so I can see the result.**

**So, yeah. Please draw Ignus.**

**It's a bit shameless of me to ask, but it's just so freakin' cool when people do it.**

**ANYWAYS.**

**The reason you are all here.**

**I am very lucky, and I do not own Frozen.**

Epilogue – Eternal

"Twenty-two times."

"Eugene, come on…"

"You've checked that window twenty-two times in the last three minutes."

"I'm too excited! They'll be here any minute!"

"Didn't anyone ever tell you a watched pot never boils?" Eugene replied wearily.

"What? Of course it does!"

"Figure of speech, Rapunzel."

"Oh…well, still! Why aren't you excited?"

"I am excited!"

"You don't look excited."

"This is my excited face. See how my eyes are slightly wider than normal?"

Rapunzel squinted as his eyes. She shook her head.

"Well, they are. Not all of us run around like kids when we're excited."

"You could at least show some kind of emo…Ooooooooh!"

Rapunzel squealed as she looked out the window. She turned on her heels and dashed out of the room.

Eugene sighed, getting up from his chair. He could guess what had happened.

Walking out of the Coronian Castle gates, he saw three horses trot towards them, with some very familiar faces on them.

"Elsa!" Rapunzel cheered happily, running over and hugging the bewildered Queen the second she dismounted. Though surprised, Elsa chuckled and returned her hug.

"Hello, Princess Rapunzel."

"Oh, don't, you know better than that!" Rapunzel chastised. She then turned to the dismounted Ignus, who looked slightly green from the travel.

He smiled at her, somewhat queasily. "Hello."

"Good to see you're finally getting used to horse travel." Eugene said sarcastically to Ignus, who gave him a look.

"Yeah, yeah." Ignus said, shrugging it off.

Rapunzel had just finished giving Ignus, Kristoff and Anna hugs when she noticed the third horse's passengers.

"Isen! Hello! And…um…"

She faltered at seeing the newly-restored Fraxinus. Ignus could hardly blame her.

"Fraxinus." He grumbled.

"Oh! OH! Wow! You look…I mean, you're so young!"

"I was young before."

"W-well…I mean…" Rapunzel, unfortunately, did not notice that Fraxinus was messing with her. "I didn't mean to imply that-"

"Just ignore him." Kristoff said, shaking his head. "He looks different, but he's still the old, curmudgeonly grump as he used to be."

Fraxinus turned to respond with what would certainly have been a soul-crushing retort, but Elsa cut him off.

"We have so much to talk about, and…It's so rude of me to ask I know, but…"

"Yes!" Rapunzel said, understanding immediately. "Arendelle's another day by horse, you guys are welcome to stay here for the night! You must be exhausted!"

"Oh god, thank you." Ignus wheezed out, thoroughly relieved that he had a day before he had to spend another agonizing trip on those chariots of pain.

0000000000000000000000

"…and you lost your powers?"

Rapunzel's eyes were as wide and teary as those of a puppy's. Ignus squirmed.

"Well…not _lost_ so much as…given. To the insane guy. To make him explode."

It didn't really sound better, honestly…

"But…that's awful!" Rapunzel said, sympathetically. "Is it…I mean, are you okay? Physically?"

Ignus flexed his arms, humoring her. "As far as I can tell, yeah. I've been told that it's somewhat of a miracle that I'm alive."

He ran a hand through his black hair. In all honesty, the loss of his powers was a severe blow to him, no matter how much he said otherwise. It had been a part of who he was, for better or worse. And it was sad to think about how he'd never be able to set parts of himself on fire for fun anymore…

"Well…at least you're okay. I mean, from what I heard things could have gone a lot worse." Eugene said, trying to be encouraging, to the general surprise of everyone.

"Yeah." Ignus said, a bit more hollowly than he intended. Elsa noticed immediately.

"Anna, would you tell them the rest? I'll be right back." She gestured to Ignus for him to follow her. He complied.

"You know, you have all night for some 'alone time'! You don't have to-"

"EUGENE!"

000000000000000000000000000000

Elsa's eyes were as piercing as a razor. Or an icicle. Or an icicle made of razors.

"Ignus…do you want to talk at all?"

His amber eyes looked to the floor. She was overjoyed that he was finally back to normal, but her heart broke every time she remembered Ignus' price for his cure.

He exhaled deeply. "I…don't know where to start."

"Just go. I'll listen."

Ignus took another breath.

"I…really miss having my powers."

Elsa felt a lump. She knew this was coming.

"And…it's only been a day. And it's stupid of me to think about it, because it was for you and Anna and Kris and probably the betterment of all mankind…but…"

He leaned against the wall.

"I'll be okay." He said finally. "It's hard right now, but…I'll be okay."

Elsa gently kissed his cheek.

"I know. But until then, I'm here."

Ignus smiled softly. He held her close to him. For a while, they simply stood there. Ignus was surprised how Elsa seemed colder than usual.

_Another side-effect_, he thought to himself bitterly.

"Thank you, by the way, for saving everyone." He heard her say.

Ignus looked at her in amusement. "You don't need to thank me! It's embarrassing-"

"Well, no one else did, and I think it'd be strange if no one says thank you at least once."

Ignus contemplated this, and then nodded. "Fair enough."

"I…I wanted to do more."

As soon as Ignus heard the words, he realized how much guilt Elsa had to be feeling.

"Wait…Els, you don't blame yourself for this, right?"

Elsa said nothing, but her grip tightened.

"Elsa!"

"If I hadn't frozen you back then I could've fought with you against him and you wouldn't have had to sacrifice your powers and you wouldn't be miserable! Yes, I do blame myself for this!"

Ignus exhaled. She must have been feeling this the entire trip back to Corona.

"I'm sorry. I was a bit insensitive to you, I guess."

Elsa sighed. "I don't mean to rant, I just-"

"I understand. Really I do."

Ignus thought a minute.

"But…well, you actually kind of saved me."

Elsa backed up from him a bit so she could give him a very skeptical look.

"I know you're trying to make me feel better, but-"

"No, seriously! After I lost my fire…well, I woke up in this...void."

Elsa was now listening closely.

"There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. I was sure I was dead. And it terrified me. I thought I'd never see Kris, or Anna or you ever again. I'd just be there alone…without you."

Ignus took a moment to cool his head. He hated how mushy that sounded. However, Elsa's shining eyes told him to continue.

"But when I thought about you, there was a…well, light, I guess. Like a little flame. And the more I thought about you, the more I thought about what we've done together…it grew. And it wasn't dark anymore. And I woke up."

He looked away. He sounded ridiculous. Doing this kind of thing had never been easy for him.

"And…I have no idea what to make of it, but…maybe that flame was my new fire. I can't survive without magic, so…maybe I just found a different kind."

"So…yeah. You saved me. End of story."

Elsa looked ready to cry. Which was the exact opposite of what he wanted.

"So no guilt. I'm alive. You're alive. We're together. Life is good."

Elsa laughed at Ignus' blunt statement, wiping her eyes.

"That must have been hard for you."

Ignus sighed and looked down. "I'm just…I'm terrible at that kind of stuff."

"Not as much as you think." Elsa said, putting a hand on his face. She kissed him.

Ignus somehow knew that little white flame was growing even brighter.

0000000000000000000000

"You're leaving?!"

Anna's sad voice echoed through the castle.

"It's what we do." Fraxinus said simply. Isen, however, looked just as sad as Anna.

"We've been away for so long…it's time we went out and really saw what's out there." She said, smiling apologetically.

"You sure you want to leave now?" Ignus said, walking in with Elsa. Anna noticed he looked a lot happier. She smiled.

"Yeah." Isen said. "I'm gonna miss you guys so, so much, but-"

"It's too noisy around you all." Fraxinus interrupted, incorrectly finishing Isen's sentence.

Elsa rolled her eyes.

"We'll miss you as well. Maybe even both of you."

Fraxinus snorted.

"Thanks for everything!" Anna said, looking ready to hug them again.

"Try not kill someone with that sarcasm of yours!" Kristoff said to Fraxinus. Anna lightly elbowed him.

Fraxinus looked away. But, unfortunately for him, Elsa managed to catch a glimpse of the smile that crept up his face.

"Shall we be off then?" He looked at Isen, shaking himself slightly.

"Yeah. Oh, oh! Give me a piggyback!"

"No."

"You said you would, like, twelve thousand years ago!"

"I don't remember that."

"Yes you do, you liar!" Isen jumped on him and clambered onto his shoulders.

Fraxinus let out one last groan, and the duo began to glow blue and red, respectively. Then they slowly dissipated away into the wind, until only their afterimages remained.

Anna sighed, melancholy. Kristoff hugged her from behind.

"You know you'll see them again."

She patted his arm. "Yeah."

Ignus put an arm around Elsa and smiled at her.

"Guess now you'll have to actually worry about Queenly duties instead of running around keeping me out of trouble once we get back to Arendelle."

She scoffed. "As if you'd ever stop getting into it."

He grinned. "Naaah, probably not."

00000000000000000000000

Ignus had just finished his third slice of cake (courtesy of Rapunzel, who turned out to be an amazing baker), when he noticed a small wisp of flame flying out towards the grounds.

Intrigued, and probably against better judgement, he followed it.

He was shocked to see Fraxinus standing stoically in front of him.

"Hey!" Ignus said in greeting.

"Hmm."

Ignus' face fell comically.

"Y'know, that whole disappearing act before had an air of finality to it…I figured you guys were outta here."

"I forgot something."

Ignus blinked, curious. "Okay…"

Fraxinus looked uncomfortable, but he walked over and held out his fist.

Ignus, confused, held out his hand.

Fraxinus dropped into it an exquisitely crafted ring. It looked like it had been made with a combination of ice and obsidian, with a sparkling diamond at it's top. It was spectacular.

"Whoa…" Ignus said, spellbound. "I mean….thanks! But-"

"We figured we owed you something." Fraxinus said gruffly. "Since you did return our powers, albeit you did so a bit foolishly."

Ignus grunted. "Yeah, your welcome. But…why a ring?"

"So you can feed it to your snowman. For her majesty, you idiot."

Ignus nearly dropped the ring in shock.

"Oh, stop. You're gonna drive everyone around you crazy. It's not like she's gonna say no when you ask." Fraxinus said strictly.

Ignus wasn't sure if he appreciated the man's confidence.

"And you two deserve something…well special, I suppose." Fraxinus was clearly not enjoying this.

Ignus looked at the ring a bit longer. Then he smiled slowly.

"I'd give it a bit before you ask, though. I think you've given her enough to worry about for a while."

Ignus nodded. "You said it."

Fraxinus harrumphed, satisfied. Then…

"It's good."

"Come again?"

"Lot of people could have inherited my power. It's good that it was able to find someone not too dumb."

Ignus realized he was being complimented.

"Err…thanks." He replied awkwardly. He then looked down.

"Well…maybe someone else could've held onto it a bit better."

Fraxinus regarded this. Then he sighed and looked at the starry night sky.

"Ignus, I thought I knew everything there was to know about magic. I thought I knew all it's secrets, all it's tricks…but you and her majesty proved me wrong. I know nothing."

"It's true. You two receiving our powers, how she accidentally corrupted your body, how you were able to channel your own magic through a crystal...that was guesswork at best. But most importantly…how you were able to use your feelings for her as an ample substitute."

Ignus was surprised. Fraxinus knew about that?

"Despite all the evidence pointing otherwise, you lived. You survived. You are quite an anomaly, Ignus."

"Thanks?"

"Magic will baffle us forever. It will act one way in a day, and the opposite the next. It will spin logic in circles and puncture nature's laws. We'll never truly understand it, and perhaps we're not meant to. Same way Isen and I don't know how we came to be."

"But there is one, undeniable fact of magic, Ignus. One that has been proven before, and I'm certain will prove itself again very soon."

Ignus waited.

"It may take years. It may take centuries, maybe even millennia. But magic is eternal, Ignus. It never truly leaves."

And he faded into the night.

Ignus was left staring at where the wise being had stood. He thought about his words for the next five minutes silently.

He looked at his hand.

_Could it…?_

He held his breath.

Then he snapped his fingers.

He stood perfectly still.

And then a wide smile broke out onto his gleaming face.

**THE END**

**Author's Note – Once again, I find myself humbled by my amazing fans. A true thank you to you all for reading my sequel. It was arduous, it wasn't pretty, and it was a b*tch to write sometimes, but you all helped me land this thing.**

**And so I truly thank you all. I loved writing this story, and I loved hearing from you all. I read every review and took every opinion into account as I read, and I occasionally needed a good kick in the behind, which some of you provided.**

**But…what you all probably want to know is if I will continue this story.**

**…**

**Yes. **

**You will see more of Ignus. But in a different way, I suppose. You won't see a big, adventure story like this or Singed. Instead, I plan to write a series of one-shots. Simple, fun, most likely fluffy stories about what happens next, what has happened, and maybe even what could have been.**

**But for now, I hope you have enjoyed reading Initium Magica.**

**I look forward to presenting more to you all. I am truly lucky to have fans such as you.**

**Your humbled author,**

**TheStanfordExperiment**


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